Ut Infinitio
by The King of Blah
Summary: The Brotherhood of Evil has been defeated, but evil never dies. Foes new and old, allies across the world, and a young metahuman looking for a purpose. An OC Teen Titan story.
1. Chapter 1: Meet the Cast

Disclaimer: In all honesty, this disclaimer means nothing, since I would have to be severely moronic to try and make money off of someone else's brainchild. However, in the interest of not having my ass sued for everything it's worth, I do not own the Teen Titans or anything published by DC Comics. The main plotline and certain important characters are mine, though I wouldn't be surprised if I unintentionally ripped off someone else's good idea. If you think something in my writing resembles another author's work, it was either an accident or meant as homage to them. This disclaimer applies to all subsequent chapters, unless I come up with something witty to say. If you actually read through this entire disclaimer, you are my new best friend.

Ch. 1: Meet the Cast

**Titans' Mission Log: 0005742-ABDHIRTY **

**21 June 2008. 1929 UTC-8. Jump City, California, United States of America.**

**Mission Status: In Progress**

It was dark…

Quiet…

Cyborg and Beast Boy had hidden themselves unusually well: Robin wasn't able to tell which one was chuckling and which one had just made a joke about _Alone in the Dark_. As for the Boy Wonder himself, he was one with the shadows. Nothing could be seen of him. Nothing could be heard of him. Even his mentor in Gotham wouldn't be able to find him…instantly.

No easy feat when he still felt so gangly and clumsy after his most recent growth spurt. It looked like he would need to order a set of larger uniforms. _Again._

He took a moment to confirm Raven's position on his communicator. Good. She was almost in position. Now they were just waiting on Starfire. Her respective blip was close to Raven's, meaning she was getting near as well.

Robin saw this as one of the most important missions in the history of the Teen Titans. It had been postponed out of necessity when the Brotherhood of Evil had launched the surprise attack on the expanded Titans. With that mess finally taken care of and the honorary members having left for their homes, this was the best chance they had.

Just the original members.

Only those who were in the know.

If they failed, Robin didn't know what would happen. He felt as if his entire life had led up to this moment. The Boy Wonder thought about everything they had done to prepare for this day: the planning, the obsessive coordination, and, most importantly of all, the extreme amounts of subterfuge. They simply could not afford to be noticed before the moment of action. Otherwise, it would all be for naught.

Robin kept his communicator out, staring fixedly at the blinking dots that represented his female teammates. They were finally in position.

Robin lightly rapped his knuckles on the floor, signaling Cyborg and Beast Boy that it was time to be serious.

Dead silence.

_Fwish._

The door slid open, revealing two blurry silhouettes. They were obviously surprised by what they saw, or what they didn't see, moving cautiously into the room.

The taller one was the first to speak up. "Why has the lighting been disengaged?"

The shorter one seemed somewhat put off by the question. "Instead of asking me, why don't you just hurry up and turn the lights back on?"

The tall one nodded, and reached for the nearby panel.

'_Here it comes.'_ Robin readied himself to spring.

_Click._

'_Now!' _Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy leapt from their hiding places just as the lights came on…

"**SURPRISE!!"**

"Eep!!" _**FLASH! FLASH! F-F-FLASH! F-FLASH!**_Starbolts flew like a swarm of killer bees.

At the boys.

"WHOA DAMN!"

"DUDE!"

"DAH, STAR!"

Robin heroically dove behind Cyborg's large frame, though the metallic Titan was quick to abandon his leader for better cover. Beast Boy morphed into a turtle in the nick of time, only to be sent skidding and bouncing around the Main Room like an organic pinball.

A wall of glowing obsidian flew up between the singed males and a badly startled alien female. Several pieces of innocent furniture smoldered pleasantly in the silence that followed. Confetti and balloons calmly rained down, as if in mockery of what had just occurred.

"Wh-what is…?"

"Um…hehe…Happy Birthday, Starfire."

**Titans' Mission Log: 0005742-ABDHIRTY **

**21 June 2008. 1930 hours. Jump City, California, United States of America.**

**Mission Status: Failed**

* * *

After the wreckage had been cleared away, and Beast Boy had changed into a set of tights that didn't have a smoking hole through the rear, the Titans were ready to actually start the party they had intended for their resident bundle of joy.

Well, almost ready.

"Friends, I thank you for your wishes of the joyous anniversary of my birth, but…today is not that day for me. I am sorry." Starfire may as well have been a child getting told off for stealing cookies, she looked so guilty. Like it was her fault they were celebrating on the wrong day.

Beast Boy was quick to rectify the situation, swaggering over and suavely putting his arm around the much taller girl's shoulders, "We know that Star, but it's not like we had a chance to party then. We were waist deep in Brotherhood nasty, and then we had a bunch of fridge raiders in the house. This is the first chance we got."

Robin picked up where Beast Boy left off, though he substituted an arm-over-the-shoulder for his personal favorite: the hand-on-the-shoulder-while-looking-eye-to-eye-with-a-kind-smile. "Yeah, you didn't say anything, so we kind of forgot about it until Raven looked at the calendar. We wanted to make sure you got the party you deserved, however late it was."

Robin had lied a little bit there. _He_ hadn't forgotten, not even when the Brain was monologuing about his apparent victory.

"Wait, we have a calendar? Like, to keep track of stuff?" Beast Boy looked confused.

"What else do you use a calendar for?" Raven was not amused. Big surprise.

"Well, I keep this one under my bed for when I'm alone, so I ca-ACK!"

Cyborg dumped an extra large handful of fallen confetti down Beast Boy's shirt and continued the story, "Since the honorary Titans left for home, we've been scramblin' all over the place when you weren't looking to get this ready. Robin contacted Galfore to get a translator and sat down with one of your cook books for days so he could make you some Tamaranean food. Beast Boy set up most of the decorations. I even repaired and upgraded Robo-Me so you wouldn't notice I was gone on shopping trips."

During the explanation, Starfire's expression had gradually lifted to her usual joyous face. Now her eyes were watering with unshed tears, and she crushed her friends in a massive bear hug.

"Oh dearest friends! I am filled with the shaggy sensations to hear that you engaged in the devious sneaking around for my sake! I am very grateful, but, you should not have gone to such trouble for me. I had forgotten it myself."

When she finally released them from her hold, Beast Boy fell to the floor in a boneless heap, hacking and wheezing, while Cyborg surreptitiously checked for dents. Raven lifted her hood to hide her pained expression. Robin was the only one who was able to ignore the suspicious cracking sounds coming from his ribcage, putting on his bravest face for her.

"I think you mean fuzzy feelings, and it wasn't some kind of burden. We wanted to do this for you. Over a year ago, your trip to the future showed us that, without you around, the Titans are pretty much done for. This is the least we could do."

"Then I will accept your offer without guilt. Raven, what did _you_ contribute to this endeavor?"

The mage in question had already started drifting towards the couch, her eyes flicking between Starfire's overly expressive visage and the book of poetry lying tantalizingly near the edge of the table. "…I took you to the pet store to see the kittens so that the boys could finish preparing. I think I deserve the most credit of all."

While he was getting older, Beast Boy was still young, and therefore was prone to gaps in memory. "Hey, no way dude! I totally deserve the most credit! I'm the one who came up with all the party ideas in the first place!"

"Beast Boy, the only halfway coherent idea you contributed was that we should invite Jessica Simpson and Jessica Alba. Which got vetoed."

"And how come?! They woulda been the life of the party!"

"They would have been the life of _your_ party. Which, I'll remind you, was two months ago at the Dayton Manor. You seemed fine without them, anyway."

Beast Boy kicked at the floor, grumbling something about lost chances and party poopers.

"Ahem," Robin got everyone's attention. "Now that that's been cleared up, why don't we actually start this party? What do you want to do first, Star? Food? Games? Presents?"

"I am getting rather hungry, so could we please begin with the repast?"

Naturally, Cyborg was ecstatic. "Ah yeah, baby! It's time for Cyborg's Patented Stairway to Heaven Feast of Heroes©! You won't even know what hit you until you're too far gone to care! I've got ribs, hot dogs, burgers, steaks, smoked ham, turkey, chicken, and even some Tamaranean foods whose names I can't even pronounce! All tasted and approved by yours truly. Now dig in!"

Cyborg waved his large arms dramatically in the direction of the kitchen table, drawing attention to a spread that could have fed an entire football team. Even Beast Boy couldn't help but stare, though he recovered quickly and narrowed his eyes menacingly at the table.

"Easy there, green bean. Robin, fearless leader that he is, made a whole pile of that tofu junk for you. So quit glarin' at my masterpiece."

"Oh. I knew that."

"Uh-huh."

"I did. It's easy to tell the food of the gods from your blasphemous stuff."

"Blasphemous?! Now you're gonna get it, ya little gremlin!"

"You two keep it up and you're going to miss out on all the '_fun_.'"

Raven's warning was like a switch. Both fell silent and made for the table, as if the argument hadn't even happened. Raven, however, hung her head.

She just knew that things would get messy.

* * *

When all was said and done, Raven was surprised. They had somehow managed to keep the mess confined to the table, though not for lack of trying. She had been more than a little wary of sticking her hand out, lest servo powered jaws or beastly appendages take it off. Once finished, she and Robin had done a quick clean-up, using telekinesis and an unusually dexterous combination of a sponge and dish soap to clear the table and get everything in the dish washer in less than five minutes.

Just long enough for their now bloated friends to burp the alphabet. Many…many…_many_ times.

"Okay, dudes and dudettes! It's time for Starfire to claim her bounty! Star, you know you wanna open mine first. I guarantee you'll love it better than everyone else's."

"Yeah, nothing says 'We love you' better than a gift certificate."

"Hey! I so did not get her a gift card! Just watch Raven. You'll be green with envy."

Raven could only raise an eyebrow in response.

Intrigued, Starfire proceeded to unwrap the man-sized lump of crumpled, neon pink wrapping paper that Beast Boy had indicated. Much to her delight, a large number of cuddly stuffed kittens tumbled out. All dyed green.

"Just in case everyone's favorite superhero isn't around to pet."

"I wasn't aware that the Man of Steel gets petted." was the droned response.

She picked up and hugged each and every one of the stuffed animals before wrapping the green changeling in an enormous embrace. Beast Boy was once again left gasping for air.

"Top…top that." was the satisfied challenge from the floor.

"As you wish."

Raven handed Starfire a box wrapped in simple blue. Inside the box was a collection of DVDs and VHS'. Starfire let out a slow gasp, wonder creeping onto her face.

"_Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_…_Bambi_…_Beauty and the Beast_…Oh, thank you dear friend! They are wonderful!"

"There's a lot more. You didn't get to the bottom."

Starfire rifled through the stack at Raven's suggestive tone, freezing when she reached the bottom. The Titans could faintly see her trembling at what she saw. She reached in and tenderly withdrew the object of her attention, cradling it like a newborn child.

"…_The Little Mermaid_...an original release video cassette…"

"It took me forever to win a bid on eBay for that one. I thought you might li-GUH!"

Raven was suddenly tackled to the floor by her best friend, who started nuzzling her cheek to cheek, exclamations of, "Glorious!" and, "Most thankful!" periodically escaping her mouth. This continued for a good minute until the boys managed to pry the excited Tamaranean off of the petite sorceress.

"Okay," Cyborg was ready to show off again, "now that Raven's had her daily snuggle points, I think it's time to move on to the main event. Here's my gift to you. Get ready to flip your lid, girl."

Cyborg picked up a silver wrapped box that was as large as an SUV, setting it in front of Starfire for examination. No one was sure how they hadn't noticed it before. Starfire didn't exactly care.

"Indeed, I shall prepare myself for the 'tossing of the cover'. It is certainly large, is it not? Perhaps it conceals a space faring vessel of some kind."

She tore into the paper, in similar fashion to the table manners they had glimpsed on Tamaran. Glossy shreds went everywhere.

_**SPARKLESHINEGLITTER!**_

The Titans' eyes were assaulted by reflected light that made the not-quite-setting sun seem dim by comparison. After taking a moment to adjust to the glare, they dared to look again. Sitting in front of them was a collection of assorted technology that made Robin wonder, not for the first time, where Cyborg got his income. At first glance, he spotted a flat-screen TV that had to be at least sixty inches, a set of surround sound speakers and a subwoofer, and a pair of what looked like noise canceling headphones. All sporting Cyborg's signature white and transparent blue paneling that identified his handmade creations. The Boy Wonder tore himself away from the extravagant display to catch the end of his second-in-command's characteristically over the top sales pitch.

"…and a media player that supports any format, including vinyl and your new video cassettes. All custom built by me, for you. You'll never need to buy another entertainment center ever again."

Beast Boy was crawling, hands and knees, towards the pile of electronics. He had an expression of something like worship plastered on his face as he slowly reached a shaking hand out, "Nyah…it's so shiny…"

"Though I am curious as to what sickly vines are, there is something else I would like to ask. Please, why would such a system be so necessary that I would, 'be living in a proverbial hell without it'?"

Cyborg smacked away Beast Boy's hand, leveling a glare at the metamorph that Robin couldn't help but be proud of. "Uh-uh, BB. Ain't no way you're touchin' Star's present. I heard about how you single handedly bankrupted Gamestation Labs when you were tryin' to buy a moped. Now we're never gonna get our hands on that superhero fighting game. Looked so awesome, too…"

Cyborg and Beast Boy both sulked at being newly reminded of their tragic loss, though Cyborg kept kicking Beast Boy in the shin. Purely by accident of course.

Starfire had been wiggling back and forth for the last minute, trying to rein in her curiosity. Nature got the best of her. "Um, your attention please?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, Star. Heh, sorry 'bout that. Anyway, it was Raven who gave me the idea. I found out what she was getting you, so I thought you should be able to watch your new movies with the best equipment, on your own time. Now you won't have to worry about the rest of us using the TV out here."

'_And maybe it'll spare us from any more documentaries about mustard or fungus,'_ was the continued thought from all four human/part human Titans.

"Oh, that is most considerate of you! I will be sure to view my new collection of the motion pictures on my new telling vision while cuddled up with Silkie and my new green fuzzies!" Starfire was, naturally, overjoyed. She was currently looping and spinning about in the air while singing praises to her friends.

"And Robin, what manner of gift have you chosen to bestow upon me?" The Tamaranean girl had made a complete one-eighty from her behavior mere moments ago, suddenly quiet and reserved, and apparently unable to look her leader in the eye.

If anything, Robin was the worse off of the two: he had frozen in place, his eyes were as wide as could be behind his mask, and it appeared that his tongue had somehow become stuck to the roof of his mouth.

"Uh…well…um…"

'_Oh, good start there Boy Wonder.'_

"I couldn't figure out what to get you for a while, so, I hope you like it." Oh great, she was giving him that _look._ The look that said she cared for him _oh so much_. That look _always_ threw him off balance. Even after nearly two years on the same team, it still had the power to bring his brain to a complete halt.

"Whatever it is, I am sure it is wonderful." And there it was. Her emerald eyes as large as baseballs, promising eternal adoration for him, no matter how terrible his gift might be.

Just as Robin was taking a package out of the cupboards that was rather modest in size compared to the other gifts…

_**WRI! WRI! WRI!**_

"Trouble!" Robin ran over the main computer, rapidly typing in commands to isolate and identify the threat.

_TAKATATAKATATAKATATAKATATA._

"What do we got Rob? The Hive Five?" Cyborg was doing a diagnostic of his energy and ammunition reserves. Raven levitated her hood up over her head. Beast Boy flexed his hands into faux claws and bared his elongated canines. Starfire spared a moment to gaze at her single unopened present before lifting into the air and subtly stretching her muscles.

"No, they're still on ice in Belle Reeve." Robin was still typing madly at the computer, several dots beginning to appear on the city map as news reports flooded in.

_TAKATA TAK TAKATA TAKATA TAK._

"They finished with those upgrades to the cell's yet?"

"According to the reports I've been receiving, they're just two days away from completion. Then we can transfer them here from Belle Reeve. There!"

_TAK! _The Titan leader hit one last key, mapping out where and what the threat to the city was.

"Seven attacks?! Since when do bad guys coordinate like that?" Beast Boy shrieked at city map.

"Where were you the last three months?" Raven, as usual, had a response.

"Oh, it gets better. Look at _what_ the trouble is."

Robin pulled up a profile from the Titans' database, complete with full color photographs. The gathered heroes gazed upon a body that they knew from several days worth of experience was roughly eight feet tall. Completely white, aside from the black and white face with robotic red eyes. The same strange robot that had given them the run around after they had finally come home.

"Aw, man."

"Du-ude, I hate that thing."

"I had thought we had eliminated that rather tiresome machine."

"A single one of those adapting robots gave us the worst runaround we've had in a long time. You're telling me we have to deal with seven of them? I'm going to be meditating for days to ease off that kind of stress."

"Stress or no stress, we've got a job to do. Starfire, Beast Boy. I want you two to take out the Adapter near the Sunset Mall. At this hour, people are going to be crowding up the stores and restaurants there and in the surrounding area. Raven, you're going after the one that's attacking the Cloudline Bridge. Cyborg and I are going to stop the one in Mahogany Park. Notify me when you're done and I'll direct you to the next one. Titans, Go!"

Party forgotten, the Teen Titans rushed out of the Main Room to their assignments. All except Starfire, who lingered in the doorway and looked forlornly at her only unopened present.

"Starfire…"

The alien princess turned to see that Robin had also hesitated, and was looking rather downcast himself. "Yes?"

"…I'll give it to you as soon as we get back." A meeting of the eyes.

"…Promise?" A slight smile.

"Promise." A full blown grin.

After a short pause, both headed in opposite directions; Starfire for the roof, Robin for the garage.

Neither had stopped smiling.

* * *

As the Titans headed their separate ways to deal with their assigned targets, four other areas in particular would not be seeing any Teen Titans quite so soon.

Pier 23.

A suburban neighborhood on Green Dolphin Street.

The Nucor Steel mill.

And Lead Street. Jump City's very own Suicide Slum.

One of the soon-to-be infamous Adapters was wreaking havoc on the already ragged houses of Lead Street. People of many skin colors and native languages ran screaming as ramshackle house after ramshackle house was turned to scrap, momentarily forgetting their usual prejudice against those superficially different from themselves. One in particular was following the crowd, though he was noticeably less urgent than the rest, and periodically stopped to look back at the robotic menace.

'_Damn, why did I ever think coming here was a good idea? This sort of thing is too high profile for what I had in mind. There is no way I'm staying here much longer.'_

No one seemed to notice the young man in the oversized hooded jacket, as wearing several layers of clothes that were too big was relatively common in the area, whether they were worn by a gang member or a homeless man. While he would have stood out horribly in a middle- or high-class neighborhood, he was completely in the ordinary here. Which was exactly what he wanted. He was just glad that no one had looked down to see the black combat boots that weren't quite concealed by his massive pants.

'_Well, now what? I could ignore it, it's not like anyone would expect me to do anything. Or…'_ He watched as the Adapter suddenly grabbed up a teenager wearing a red bandana and threw him several blocks. The boy ragdolled his way down the sidewalk before finally being stopped by a tree. If the visitor's guess was right, one arm was dislocated, several ribs and a femur were broken, and the opposite ankle had been twisted. He probably had a concussion too. Maybe even internal bleeding from that last impact.

'_Now it's attacking people, not just property. Guess that settles it. Damn it, Will! Why the hell did you volunteer for this?!'_

Will looked both ways, and then ducked into an alley. When several more people ran in to hide from whatever it was that was destroying their neighborhood, the alley was empty but for multitudes of trash cans, bags, and dumpsters.

And a large hooded jacket with matching denim pants.

* * *

Author's Note: I'd like to say hello to everyone who was kind enough to read my work.

This is my first fan fiction ever. In fact, it's the first fiction I've written since a seventh grade English assignment. Given that I'm in my third year of college now, you'll understand why my writing may seem horribly stiff and clumsy. I feel like my dialogue doesn't flow very well, especially between the entire team at once.

This idea has actually been cooking in my head since Easter of 2007 when, during a three hour mass (my parents are the religious ones, not me), I became so bored that I invented an original character that would join the Titans. After a few months, I came up with Will, who you will start learning about in the next few chapters. His personality and abilities intrigued me so much that I made him the main character, with the first one becoming a secondary character, though he'll still appear later and become important in his own right.

I'm planning this to be a rather long story, though not to the extent of Post's _These Black Eyes_, but longer than Lord Belgarion's _Titans' Song_. Those two fics were my direct inspirations for my own OC story. For those of you who caught the reference, _Superhero Smackdown _belongs to Lord Belgarion. I couldn't resist. By the way, if Post (or someone currently in contact with him) reads this, it would be awesome if he could repost and continue his story. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who nearly fell out of my seat when all of his works were removed. I'm sincerely hoping that he only deleted them in order to revise them, like what Lord Belgarion did recently.

This story will also be slightly AU, though not much. The changes I made dealt with backstory, rather than actual plot points. As such, I have to disregard the Teen Titans Go! Comics, as some of the stories would directly contradict my changes. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, these backstory changes deal with two cases of secret identity. I'm not making any personality changes, just some minor identity switching so that the Titans are part of the DCAU. I'm also leaving out Titans in Tokyo. To incorporate it would mean changing what happened in the movie, having it happen in the background, or having it happen before my story. I loath changing canon (those identity changes I mentioned were like pulling teeth) and I don't like keeping major events in the background unless I'm deliberately trying to keep up a mystery. All three options felt like major copouts on the RobxStar element. I want to try my hand at romance, so in end, it had to go.

For the last subject of this absurdly long author's note, I'm looking for someone to beta my stuff. I have a very knowledgeable reference when it comes to anything comic book related, but I'm fairly certain that he doesn't read fan fiction much, if at all. Even if I do get any offers, I might not necessarily choose any of them. I have a very high standard when it comes to reading fan fiction, and as such will have a very high standard for my own writing. The problem is that something I think might be good out of bias might really be as lame as a quadriplegic, or a joke about a quadriplegic. I need someone to be able to point those mistakes out, so I'll be looking at examples of writing before I make a decision. Someone who can not only correct my mistakes, but also suggest ways to accomplish certain events smoothly would be much appreciated. So, really, what I need is something like a co-author, rather than just a proofreader. Any constructive criticism or compliments left in reviews are welcomed. Flames will be ignored, unless I find it really funny or constructive in their own childish way. If someone wants to get in contact with me to discuss something at length, let me know in a review and I'll figure something out, like AIM or something.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think. I hope to see you all again soon!


	2. Chapter 2: Uninvited 1

Ch. 2: Uninvited 1

The sun was only just beginning to hint at setting, having taken on a slight orange hue mere moments ago. The sky was filled with wispy clouds so thin that the weatherman's prediction of evening rain was looking highly unlikely. The roads were flooded with cars, all trying to get to the best diners first, or to get tickets for the best showing of the current blockbuster film. Some were driven by high school and college students on their way to and from part-time jobs.

One car in particular, white with blue accent paneling, was swerving fluidly between the heavy traffic, somehow managing to beat the speed limit despite the obstacles in its path. The large vehicle was paralleled by a bright red motorcycle, ridden by a boy in red, green, yellow, and black. The spandex clad driver had the advantage of completely avoiding traffic by driving between the lanes, but kept his speed down enough for the futuristic car to keep up.

"Titans, this is Robin. I want an update on your locations."

"_Raven here. I'll be at the bridge in two minutes."_ Raven sounded like she was out for leisurely stroll. Robin then had to stop and correct his analogy. Raven sounded like she was waiting for water to heat up so she could make tea.

Starfire chimed in,_ "Beast Boy and I will have reached the mall of shopping within ninety seconds."_

"_I'm right on your tail, Rob."_ If Robin wasn't mistaken, Cyborg was subtly trying to tell him that he was going too slow.

"Alright Titans, remember, we can't allow these things to run amok through the city. Do everything within your power to contain and destroy them, short of endangering the populace. Cyborg, you had a good look at the body of the last one. What did you find?"

"_Not as much as I would have liked. Or at least, not on my own. That mask was the only part of it that was fully mechanical, and it only contained basic function programming. The body itself disintegrated in less than an hour, and there was no motor system or power source to be found, though I did pick up a residual energy signature. I couldn't match that to anything in our database or the League's, but something about it felt familiar, so I had Raven take a look at it. Rae?"_

"_There's a good reason it felt familiar, it was magical energy from the same source as mine."_

"_Please Raven, you cannot be saying that the Trigon is…"_ Starfire's voice carried more than just an undertone of worry.

"_No Starfire, Trigon isn't coming again. It's going to be a long, long time before he'll be strong enough to try, let alone have a good shot. However, it having the same magic source as me might mean something else: that the Church of Blood is involved."_

"What's this Church of Blood?" Robin swerved to avoid a black sports car that was darting around the lanes even more than Cyborg currently was.

"_A cult that worships Trigon and attempts to extend his influence on Earth."_

"_Wait a sec, Rae. This Church of Blood…would the leader happen to be…?"_

"_You guessed right Cyborg. Brother Blood is the leader of the Church. I didn't mention anything at the time because I was afraid you would all find out why I knew about it and would hate me for it. It wasn't all that important then either."_

"'_S alright. It just means we know who we're dealing with. More importantly, I _was_ able to figure out the robot's capabilities. It can only mimic solids and liquids, not gases or plasmas, and can meld with whatever it's mimicking. It also has to touch something with its hands to mimic. Other than that, there wasn't much to it other than the command to just go crazy in the city. No specific target, no info on where it was made, nothing."_ Throughout the explanation, Cyborg's skill with the vehicle didn't drop in the slightest, showcasing his nearly unconscious mastery of the road.

"You heard him. Try to tie up their hands and keep them away from water. Breaking the mask should stop them in their tracks. We need to be fast about this."

"_Beast Boy to Robin, Star and me are at the mall. Star's holding it off while I get the people away. We'll be done with this one before you can say Most Valuable Shape Shifter of the Year."_

"_Raven here. I'm coming up to the bridge. This shouldn't take long."_

"Good. We've reached our own target. Cyborg, time for us to get to work."

"_Right behind you dawg."_

_**VROOM! VROOOOMMM!**_ A streak of red shot toward the snow white hulk that had just become visible, laser cannons preparing to fire. The T-Car was right behind, proton cannon on the roof charging and Cyborg himself leaning out the window with a sonic cannon at the ready.

_**

* * *

**_

_**CLANG!**_

The Adaptor that had been busy ripping up a rickety fence suddenly pitched forward and landed face first in the middle of the street. It turned as it righted itself, attempting to determine what could have knocked it over. It saw a metallic trash dumpster lying at its feet, but couldn't locate who or what had launched the receptacle at its back.

_**WHAM!**_

Just as it had been about to return to its task, a twenty foot tall tree it had tossed away earlier slammed across the back of its legs, this time landing it flat on its back. It raised thick arms in time to block the same tree from impacting its chest from above.

_**CRACK!**_

The improvised weapon snapped in two, the walloping end flying into a demolished shack and smashing what little was still intact into mulch. The Adapter immediately grabbed the new end of the bludgeon and swung it up and then down into the pavement.

_**SMASH!**_

It had calculated on crushing whatever was on the other end into the ground and getting back to its programmed task, but there was no smear of blood, bone, and flesh at the impact point. It quickly scanned its surroundings, attempting to locate the threat. The electronic eyes caught the image of a man-shaped object following a higher trajectory of the Adapter's swing, which landed on a nearby rooftop and disappeared from sight.

The database in the Adapter's mask was expanded from what the first version had, not only containing usages for different matter transitions, but also information on notable beings it might encounter. What it had seen did not match any profiles in the still limited archive, and as such allowed the unidentified presence to leave, not programmed to pursue an unknown. The Adapter then returned to its assigned task of laying to the waste the biggest slum in the city.

_**

* * *

**_

'_Whatever that thing is, it's pretty tough, but it can't be invulnerable. It blocked the second swing of the tree, even though the first swing and the dumpster barely dented it. Why?'_

Will watched the Adapter from a completely different rooftop than the one it had seen him land on, attempting to find the chink in its armor. As he observed, the rampaging robot lifted up the dumpster he had launched at it earlier and started swinging it around as a bludgeon, visibly altering its body composition to match the iron structure.

'_That…might be tricky. This sort of thing is beyond my experience range. Focus Will! There has to be a weak point!'_

The Adapter swung the improvised weapon with destructive results, bits and pieces of land, pavement, and housing flying every which way. Every once in a while, it would stop and lift its massive arms, deflecting flying debris from its face.

'_It's that mask. It must contain sensitive equipment, maybe even the command center. …Now, is there anything hard I can hit it with?'_

Will went in search of a suitably damaging weapon, all the while trying to think of how to get a clean shot at the menace's face.

_**

* * *

**_

The Cloudline Bridge was easily the most used route from the outer limit suburbs to the city centre. In less than ten years of existence, it had become one of the busiest bridges in the world, with an average daily traffic volume of over one hundred and twenty thousand vehicles. What it lacked in aesthetic appeal, it more than made up for in structural integrity, easily enduring Killer Moth's swarm and several other near disasters.

Raven wasn't so sure it would hold up under the assault of the magically powered molecular robot. One by one, it was tearing the support cables apart, even merging with them and ripping them open from the inside. Over sixty cars had been totaled in the attack and many more were involved in minor accidents. People were running screaming from the hulking figure, some of the more frantic ones even jumped into the water, fortunate that it was a relatively low bridge for its size.

It was time to put a stop to this.

Stretching out her hands before her, Raven concentrated her will. Several empty vehicles levitated into the air, enveloped by black energy. A burst of willpower and the floating cars flew on a collision course towards the Adapter.

_**WHANG! WHAM! SMASH! C-CLANG!**_

The robot was bowled over by the onslaught wrecked vehicles, though it easily hopped to its feet and hurled the progressively more damaged cars back at the Titan. Raven was quick to throw up a barrier.

_SHEEN!__** TANG! WHAP!**_

"Okay, that's not getting me anywhere."

Raven cast her eyes around for a more suitable object to throw, finally settling on broken strands of steel cable that had once been a part of the bridge. If she could tie them around its hands, she'd have the time to gather her energy and hit it with one big shot.

The bendable metal glowed unearthly obsidian before zipping toward the Adapter and wrapping around its wrists like a giant pair of PlastiCuffs. That done, she assumed a meditative pose and closed her eyes, gathering her soul self.

_**SNAP! S-SNAP! Thump-thump-Thump-Thump-THUMP-THUMP-WHAP!**_

"UGH!" Raven hadn't counted on it breaking free and shoulder tackling her. She had obviously underestimated its physical strength.

The walking insurance claim raised both fists above its head and swung down with all of its considerable power.

_**WOOSH! **__SHEEN!__** WHAM!**_

Raven barely managed to bring a shield to bear this time, though it held up under the onslaught.

_**WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!**_

She winced at each impact, but held firm. Recognizing the futility of its actions, the Adapter monkey-hopped its way over to a leaking petroleum tanker and stuck its hand into the dark liquid, taking on the substance's characteristics. The robot then proceeded to launch a deluge of the crude oil at the dark Titan from its arm.

_SPLOOSH!_

Raven gracefully floated out of the path of the wasted natural resource, but nearly fell out of the air upon noticing the ever expanding pool coming near the sparking battery of what was once an electric car. Before she could even lift a finger, a bolt leapt out and lit the trail of oil.

_**FWOOMB!**_

The stream of fire rapidly closed in on the tanker. Raven concentrated and did the best she could think of. "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!"

_SHEEN!_

A dome of absolute black erected itself around the tanker and Adapter just before the flames reached the concentration of petroleum. She dimly saw a light reach the leak and slammed her eyes shut in preparation.

_**FWOOOOMB!.!.!.!**_

A massive explosion ripped the tanker and robot apart, lighting up the bridge even in the still-bright sun. Raven's soul self held the blast in. Barely.

"NNGHH!" Raven and her shield dropped to the ground in exhaustion the moment the intense light dissipated. For several moments, she just sat, attempting to regain her breath and bearings. Eventually, she shakily brought her yellow communicator to her face.

"Raven calling Robin. I'm…finished at the bridge. Where do I go next?" She couldn't speak evenly quite yet.

A slight pause.

"_Robin here. Head to Green Dolphin Street as soon as you've restored enough energy."_ Explosions could be heard in the background._ "Starfire will join you once she and Beast Boy shut theirs down. Beast Boy will go to the Nucor-Nngh!…Steel mill and hold that one off. Cyborg and I will join Beast Boy soon. Robin out."_

Raven looked around, taking notice of the number of ambulances that had arrived and had begun to take up everyone they could. She noticed a few injured that would most likely not make it to the hospital in time. Unless she did something about.

She lifted herself into the air and calmly levitated over to the ones that needed her help. A few muttered words, the white glow of healing energy, and their lives were out of immediate danger. An elderly woman she had just fixed up gently clasped Raven's hand and whispered to her, "It's so good to have such nice kids like you around."

Raven wasn't used to hearing things like that. Most people shied away from her when the Titans were in public. They were apprehensive of her dark powers and cold demeanor, preferring the other four for their generally sunny dispositions. Not knowing what to say, she simply nodded, before quietly gliding her way back to the city.

It was time to get back to her assignment.

_**

* * *

**_

"COME ON DUDES! YOU GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE SO WE CAN TURN THAT THING INTO SCRAP!" Beast Boy was doing his best to herd the curious masses away from the battlefield. Not an easy task when his voice had finally started changing in earnest, resulting in unintentional octave jumps more frequently than he cared for.

He could see Starfire just a ways off, throwing a storm of starbolts and Tamaranean punches at the Adapter, but the robot just kept getting up, no matter how furious the barrage. If Beast Boy didn't get over there soon, the extraterrestrial princess would start to tire, and he wasn't sure if he could stop it on his own.

Finally, the only people he could see were his teammate and a couple of police officers setting up a perimeter. With that, he charged into the fray, morphing into a rhinoceros halfway there and slamming into the white machine, just as it had been about to grab Starfire out of the air.

_**BAM!**_

The Adapter tumbled end over end several times before sliding to a stop and quickly righting itself. Wasting no time on banter that it couldn't have uttered or even conceived of, it slammed its fingers straight into the pavement, shifting its body to the same compound, and dug them in as far as they could go.

_**CRICK! S-SKRICK!**_

That done, it gripped and _lifted_, tearing a chunk of pavement and earth the size of a car out of the ground—_**SSSKKRAAUUKKK!.!**_—and tossed the new lawn ornament at the green rhino—_**FWOOOSH!**_

Shifting into a house mouse, Beast Boy ducked the flying chunk of parking lot and ran in a circle around the magic-powered menace as a timber wolf. Starfire began another rain of starbolts, prompting the Adapter to throw turtarriers at her, rather than her friend who couldn't fire back. As soon as Starfire had its attention, Beast Boy changed direction, running full tilt straight towards the robot. Just before reaching his target, he morphed into the towering _Gigantopithecus_, beating out his opponent's eight feet in height and putting all his strength into holding the Adapter's arms immobile and out of the way.

Starfire was quick to take advantage of the opening, darting in and landing a succession of thunderous punches—_**WHAM! WHAM! BAM! POW!**_—before the robot's super-strength managed to throw off the massive emerald ape and knock both Titans away.

"Ah phooey, back at square one." Beast Boy was in the mood to whine a little.

Starfire paused for a moment, squinting, and then pointed. "No, look closely Beast Boy."

Beast Boy took her advice, momentarily changing into an eagle and staring at the Adapter. He was surprised and more than a little pleased to see that the last attack had managed to put several cracks in the monochrome face of the hulking robot.

"Sweet! Titans, one! Snow White, zero!"

"Indeed! Now we only need continue and the battle will be ours!" As she said this, the yellow communicator strapped to the back of her belt beeped.

"_Raven calling Robin. I'm…finished at the bridge. Where do I go next?" _Heavy breathing filtered across the speaker.

"Dang it! She beat us!"

"_Robin here. Head to Green Dolphin Street as soon as you've restored enough energy. Starfire will join you once she and Beast Boy shut theirs down. Beast Boy will go to the Nucor-Nngh!…Steel mill and hold that one off. Cyborg and I will join Beast Boy soon. Robin out."_

"You heard the man, Star. Time to show this hunk of junk what being a Teen Titan is all about!"

"You are correct Beast Boy. Protecting the innocent is not a task to be taken lightly."

"…I was gonna say looking cool while beating bad guy booty, but that works too."

At that, the two green-eyed Titans charged the variable behemoth, tiger pads and Tamaranean energy carrying them to opposite sides of the enemy. Seeing their advance, the Adapter hefted a steel support beam it had torn out of the building earlier, at the same time taking on the properties of its bludgeon. As soon as they were in range, it swung hard at Starfire, calculating her as the more dangerous of the two.

_WHOOSH!_

Starfire managed to twirl out of the way in the nick of time, leaving the robot nothing to hit but empty air. Deciding to try the same tactic as before, Beast Boy transformed into a giant squid and latched onto the destructive robot from behind, attempting to hold it in place for Starfire to hit. Unfortunately, steel was much stronger than the strange ceramic that normally served as its dermis, and granted a proportionate increase in strength.

_POP! POP! P-POP!_

The Adapter easily freed itself of Beast Boy's suction cupped tentacles and hurled the temporary cephalopod at Starfire.

_FWAP!_ "Oof!" _TH-THWUMP!_

Beast Boy quickly changed back to elf form and frantically wrung his hands, the tiny cuts and tears in his skin remnants of torn suction cups. "Owowowow!"

Starfire sat up, none the worse for the wear, though obviously irritated at the hybrid of magic and electronics for hurting her small friend, if her glowing eyes were any indication.

"It appears as if such a strategy will not work again. However…"

_**FLAAAAAASH!**_

It appeared that changing its physical make-up gave the Adapter both the relative strengths _and_ weaknesses of whatever it mimicked. While steel had proven tougher, the abnormal material that made up its natural body seemed to have a higher melting point. The heat aspect of her starbolts had had very little effect on its natural body, but her eyebeams had just sheared off the left arm like it would any normal piece of steel.

_**THUNK! C-CLANG!**_

The Adapter's arm and the steel beam it had been holding fell to the ground, useless. It reverted back to the white skin of its normal form. It showed no signs of regenerating the lost limb.

"Dude, that was sick!" Beast Boy clapped his hands at Starfire's accomplishment, only to wince and blow on his still sensitive palms.

"I thank you. Unfortunately, I do not believe I will have such an opportunity again." Starfire turned a thoughtful gaze on the stumbling robot, which hadn't quite managed to compensate for the lost arm. It kept overbalancing each time it tried to stand, though it was obvious it would not take much longer to correct.

"…Hey, Star, I've got an idea! The floor in that JCPenney had some wood paneling in it right?"

Starfire narrowed her eyes, thinking back to the last time she had managed to drag Raven to the mall. "…Yes, I believe it does. Why do you ask?"

"I'll be right back!" Beast Boy grinned wildly before racing towards the department store in cheetah form.

The Tamaranean Titan didn't have the time ask the changeling what he was planning.

_FWOMP!_

This was due to the rebalanced Adapter tackling her into the ground and attempting to bludgeon her with its one good arm.

_**WHAM! WHACK! SLAM!**_

Starfire had had enough after three hits, ploughing her feet into the robot's approximation of a gut and launching it through the air like it was nothing more than a baseball. She paused a split second to make sure her jaw wasn't broken and all her teeth were in place before pursuing the still airborne attacker like a comet. "That was _most_ rude of you!"

_**FWOOSH! "HAH!" **__**SMASH!.!.!**_

She easily caught up and hammered a fist straight down into her opponent's chest, putting a small crater in the ground in the process.

_**WHAM! SMASH! WHAM! FLAASH!**_

"HA! HUH! HAH! RraaAGHH!" She followed up with a flurry of punches to the two-tone face and massive starbolt, before lifting into the air to survey her work. The Adapter struggled to rise, but its mask was now missing large portions. Sparks cascaded from the openings and all three limbs twitched madly before finally falling limp.

_THWUMP!_

Beast Boy chose just this time to return, a large hunk of torn-out wood flooring clutched in pterosaur talons. He saw Starfire floating in the air, the angry glow fading from her eyes and breathing heavily, a trickle of green blood coming from a split lip. He could also see the newly non-operational Adapter lying prone, sparks flying less and less from the broken command center.

"Du-ude, you ruined it! I was gonna make him into wood and set him on fire. I WAS GONNA MAKE FIRE!"

"I apologize. I did not mean to rob you of your…joy. Perhaps Robin and Cyborg will be more accommodating?"

"Ah, I almost forgot! I gotta get to the steel mill!" Beast turned, morphed into a pterosaur once again…and froze.

Starfire stared, cocking her head to the side. "…….?"

The changeling returned to his natural form, scratching the back of his head and wearing an embarrassed grin. "So…um…which way is the steel mill?"

_**

* * *

**_

_**ZAP! ZAAAP! Z-ZAAAP! ZAP!**_

Robin was starting to get a little frustrated. He and Cyborg had already made several passes around the Adapter, throwing every bit of weaponry their vehicles had at the attacking robot, but nothing was having much of an effect. At the speed they were moving, it was difficult to get a clear spot at its weak point. The fact that they couldn't charge in on a straight line for risk of being smashed to pieces by the machine didn't help their aim. It looked like they would have to do it the hard way.

"Cyborg, I'm going to distract it on foot. Hit it as soon as there's an opening."

"_Are you crazy man?! That thing could break you in half if it gets a hold on you! Let __**me**__ get its attention and __**you**__ blast it!"_ Cyborg sounded rather obstinate.

"No, I'm a lot more nimble than you; I won't be caught so easily. The proton cannon has the best chance of destroying that mask in one hit. If the Adapter is concentrating on me, you can slow down and take your time with the shot." However, Robin wasn't budging on his decision.

"_Ugh, fine! See if I care when you need to get peeled off the ground!"_

With that, Robin streaked a path towards the white robot. A massive arm swung on a collision course with the Boy Wonder. Just before he became a greasy smear on the attacker's fist, Robin tilted the R-Cycle on its side and slid underneath the arm and between its legs.

_**POW!**_

Just as he passed, Robin fired a grappling hook back the way the came, tweaking the grip in such a way that the still extending cord wrapped itself around the Adapter's leg. Just as he reached the end of the line, he fastened the grip to his motorcycle and leapt clear. The cord caught, and the vehicle's momentum yanked the robot's feet out from under it.

_**FWOMP!**_

The Adapter sprawled onto its stomach, though it quickly twisted around and began ripping the grappling line off. Robin didn't have any intention of giving it the chance.

_Swiii-iiiish-__**CHING!**_

A freezing disc made solid contact with the hulking hybrid, fully encasing it in ice. After a few seconds of silence, Robin dropped out of his combat stance and approached the frozen robot. The T-Car skidded to a stop next to the Titan leader and Cyborg stepped out, surveying his friend's work.

"…Boo-yah?"

_**CRIICKK!**_

In rapid succession, the Adapter shifted to an icy state, passed through its prison as if it wasn't there, and lifted the now empty chunk of ice above its head.

"You just had to say it, didn't you?"

_**SMASH!**_

The mass of frozen air slammed down, throwing chunks of park turf and shattered ice into the air. Both Titans dove out of the way, but the T-Car wasn't quite as lucky, taking a glancing blow on the driver's side and rolling several times before impacting an iron bench mid-roll.

_**SCRUNCH!**_

The sickening sound of the roof becoming concave hung in the air. All three combatants stopped and stared for several seconds, even the Adapter. Cyborg slowly turned toward the towering robot. Robin suddenly realized why his teammate had bothered to add motor functions to the mechanical side of his face: his rage was as clearly reflected in his left eye as it was in his right.

"You dented…my car." Cyborg's voice was unbelievably calm and level. Robin took a moment to feel proud of his friend's self-control.

_**WHAM!**__ 'Or not.'_

Cyborg's famous left hook came out of nowhere. The Adapter was lifted clear off its feet and flew across the green. The metallic Titan charged after his newly sworn enemy, shouting about how he would make a hood ornament out of it. Robin ran right alongside his teammate, though he was notably quieter.

'_The proton cannon is no longer an option. What else could...,'_ Robin suddenly donned a devilish smirk, _'__**that**__ might work.'_

Robin whipped out his bo-staff, giving it a good twirl before swinging it straight at the Adapter's monochrome mug.

_**WHACK!**_

Its head whipped back slightly before swinging an open hand at the Boy Wonder with surprising speed, clipping him in shoulder and sending him rolling. Cyborg charged in under the arm and delivered a flurry of punches to the robot's face.

_**WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!**_

The robot stumbled back, unable to keep its balance under the barrage, before collapsing back on its rear. It placed its hand on the concrete sidewalk next to it, shifting to an identical molecular composition. Slightly melding its hand into the substance, the Adapter lifted the well-used block out of the ground and swung it as a makeshift club at Cyborg.

_**CRUNCH!**_

Cyborg went flying, blood dribbling from a split lip, just as Robin tossed several birdarangs at the robot—_Fwip-Fwp-Fwp-Fwp-__**P-P-POW!**_—which exploded rather impressively, shattering the concrete slab and the hand attached to it. The Adapter shifted back to white.

_B-Bleep! "Raven calling Robin. I'm…finished at the bridge. Where do I go next?"_ The robot bull-rushed the Titan leader and second-in-command.

"Robin here. Head to Green Dolphin Street as soon as you've restored enough energy." Cyborg launched several missiles from his shoulders—_**F-FWOOMB!**_—which detonated with considerable force, but the Adapter barreled straight through and started swinging at the two.

"Starfire will join you once she and Beast Boy shut theirs down. Beast Boy will go to the Nucor-Nngh!" A particularly vicious backhand nearly took the Boy Wonder's head off. "…Steel mill and hold that one off. Cyborg and I will join Beast Boy soon. Robin out."

_**ZAAAAP!**_

A blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon pushed the Adapter back, giving the Titans some breathing room. Cyborg wiped his chin, cleaning off the dried blood.

"Cyborg, you got the sonic?"

Cyborg looked almost giddy at that. "Long as you got the boom."

They both charged the robot, Robin pulling a special disc from his belt and Cyborg powering up his sonic cannon. The Adapter ripped a tree straight out of the ground and swung hard at its opponents_**.**_

_**THWOOSH!**_

Robin vaulted over and off the bludgeon, tossing the disc in mid-air—_Swii-iiish—_while Cyborg ducked the tree and leapt off of a nearby water fountain, firing his sonic cannon. _**ZAAAP!**_

When the spinning disc was less than a foot from the robot's mask, the sonic blast caught up, detonating the flying explosive and exponentially increasing the destructive power.

_**BOOOOOOM!.!.!**_

Silence…

A gentle breeze pushed the cloud of smoke and dust to the side, revealing the Adapter…or rather, the remains of the Adapter. The head and upper torso had been completely obliterated.

"…Now can I say it?"

"Be my guest."

"BOO-YAH!"

Meanwhile, Robin had made his way over to his downed motorcycle, righting it with a quick jerk. "Come on, Beast Boy's going to need our help."

"If he doesn't need it, we'll never hear the end of it."

Cyborg jogged over to the resting place of his baby, though his pace slowed with every step as he remembered the horrid sound the roof had made when it hit the bench. He set it upright again, though with considerably more care than Robin had with the R-Cycle. As he surveyed the damage, he let out a pained sigh as he thought about all the work he constantly put into the car that had been rendered meaningless by the impact.

Fortunately, the damage wasn't so bad that the vehicle wouldn't run, but his large frame was a bit cramped with the caved in roof.

_**VROOM! VROOOOOOM!**_

With simultaneous roars of the engines, both vehicles rocketed off towards the Nucor Steel mill.

…

…

"Well, well. It looks like dear Cyborg left us a little present." A man dressed in a large hooded robe sauntered over to a supposedly random area of the park, where one of the concrete slabs that made up a bike path was missing.

"…"

"Indeed, it looks like there is just enough for what we needed, though I dare say that these creations aren't doing their job quite as well as I had thought they would." The tall man bent over an area of grass, pulling out a cotton swab and swiping it over a small patch. The swab came up tinted red with blood.

"But of course, I'll be heading to the other sites. You know my feelings about those subordinates of yours." The cotton swab made its way into a plastic bag, which was quickly sealed. The fingers doing the sealing almost seemed to be tipped with claws.

"You say that someone besides a Teen Titan is challenging the _ghibrid_ in the slums? Interesting." The man lost himself in thought, attempting to puzzle out who might be attacking the robots. An eye glowed red under his hood.

"I'm attempting to read his thoughts. He's rather far away, but he seems unusually susceptible to telepathic abilities…No, he's simply too far, though I could tell that he is somewhat out of his element. Apparently, he isn't used to fighting on that scale, even if he is capable of such. He would have made a good student."

"…"

"Leave him be? I suppose so. It will be interesting to see what the Titans will do about him. I'll be off now, it seems like one of your 'friends' is having a bit of a temper tantrum. I do so miss student-teacher counseling." A flash of red, and the man was gone.

_**

* * *

**_

Author's note: Yes, I know. I stole those sound effects from Post. I'm a horrible person. But I liked reading them, and ended up liking to write them. Sue me. Wait, don't. I don't have any money.

For those of you wondering, the turtarriers I mentioned the Adapter throwing at Starfire are the small, movable curbs that are put in parking spots to stop cars from pulling too far forward.

Jesus, this chapter was weird. From the beginning all the way up to the end of Starfire and Beast Boy's fight, it wrote itself in just a few hours. Then I got to Robin and Cyborg's section…and I blanked. I had absolutely no idea what to write. It sat there, screaming at me, for five days. I discovered that my fight scenes rely on the first sentence. As soon as I get that down, it comes easily. If I can't decide how to begin a fight, I can't write anything. Finally, I sat down today and just spent half an hour puzzling out how to start that last one. I made my decision and, like I predicted, everything else came naturally. Damn rusty writing skills.

I'm sure at least a few of you have figured out who "Mr. Mysterious" is, given the clues I dropped. If not, well…darn. Like I said in the first author's note, I will gladly accept constructive criticism. This is especially true concerning characterization, though I know I didn't give a whole lot to work with in this chapter. We'll get to that in one or two chapters, as well as answering the question of, "Who the hell is this Will dumbass?! What are his gay, self-indulgent powers?! And why the hell is he susceptible to telepathy?!?!"

I'll try not to have such large author's notes in the future, since I know that some people find them distracting.

Last thing: In most chapters, I will have inserted a reference to an obscure show or movie. The first one to point each one out gets a gold star.


	3. Chapter 3: Uninvited 2

Ch. 3: Uninvited 2

"Yo, Robin."

"What is it Cyborg?"

"You come up with any reason so many of these things showed up all of a sudden?"

Robin furrowed his brow, attempting to puzzle out what could have prompted the attack. He and Cyborg were zipping down the streets at breakneck speed, using the siren on the T-Car to warn other vehicles out of the way and go right through red lights. The sun had finally disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving vibrant reds and oranges hanging on the otherwise so-wispy-you-couldn't-see-them clouds.

"…Nothing definite. I've been listening in on the police scanner for a few minutes now, and there doesn't seem to be anything else going on, so a distraction isn't high on my list. The Adapters themselves aren't doing anything but attacking buildings, and they're not running like the first one did. The only thing I can come up with is that whoever built them is trying to collect data on us. Even that doesn't make much sense, given how much we're publicized."

"Guess it doesn't matter all that much, huh? Only thing that's important is stopping them."

"For the moment, anyway. Eyes up, the target's at ten o'clock." Robin angled left, bearing down on the Adapter.

"…the hell does BB think he's doing?" As he pulled to a stop well away from the robot, Cyborg stared at his diminutive friend, absolutely flummoxed by Beast Boy's actions. The green metamorph, rather than attacking the enemy, was trying to shove a battered piece of wood into its hands. The Adapter wasn't taking kindly to Beast Boy's sudden penchant for gift-giving, repeatedly knocking the chunk of flooring out of the oddly colored gorilla's hands and attempting to flatten the primate.

_**WHAP!**_

The hybrid landed a clean hit on Beast Boy's simian jaw, and he promptly went flying in his teammates' direction. Robin quickly engaged the Adapter, circling it while firing laser cannons and tossing birdarangs, keeping it occupied while Beast Boy regained his footing.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow at his small teammate, who had skidded to a stop at his feet in elf form and was grinning inanely up at the larger Titan. "What the heck are you doin' salad head?"

"Well, I was thinking-"

"Heh."

"I WAS THINKING…that if he…it… turns into wood, then I could set it on fire and that'd be that. Pretty smart, huh?" Beast Boy puffed out his chest and folded his arms, attempting to look dramatically smug. He ended up looking more constipated than anything else.

"Hmm, not bad BB. 'Cept for one thing…"

"Huh?" Robin, in the meantime, had abandoned the R-Cycle after the Adapter had gotten close enough to rip one of the laser cannons off.

"You're not able to set things on fire." The shape changer's eyes went wide with realization, but he quickly mastered himself and scoffed at his friend.

"Pfft, I knew that. I was waiting for you guys to get here. You're both really slow! I coulda made it here from the park in half the time!"

"Yeah, sure." Cyborg converted an arm into a sonic cannon and threw himself into the fray, catching the Adapter in the side with a blast and launching it into the side of the building.

_**ZAAP! SMASH!**_

"What took you?" Robin relaxed his stance slightly, looking none the worse for the wear despite having been on his own for almost half a minute. He hadn't even broken a sweat. '_Ninja bastard.' _

"Just doing my civic duty: teaching the slow kids."

"Ah."

Beast Boy ran over, hearing the exchange and obviously irritated by it. "Hey, I do not ride the short bus! Matter of fact, I don't ride the bus at all, so there!"

"Guys? Not really the time." Robin's warning was indeed accurate, as the Adapter had already unearthed itself and dove into a nearby vat of molten iron.

"Aw, man, not again…" Cyborg remembered all too well how the fight had gone when the first one had done the same.

_**

* * *

**_

Raven was currently levitating her way to the suburbs, on the lookout for both white and orange menaces.

"Raven!"

'_Speak of the devil.'_

The young sorceress was hit in midair by a freight train. A freight train in the form of a tall, red-haired, orange skinned girl. A freight train by the name of Starfire.

She was entirely too happy after nearly killing her teammate with her enthusiastic hug.

"Raven, it is wondrous to see you again after being parted for so long! Are you in good health? You seemed to be breathing quite heavily over the communicator." The pretty alien cupped her hands together, worried about her surrogate sister.

"I saw you thirty minutes ago, and I'm fairly certain that my ribs _were_ intact before."

"That is good to hear." Starfire completely missed Raven's meaning. "Now, we must focus our efforts on finding this nefarious creature, lest it be allowed to harm the innocent."

Raven muttered to herself as the Tamaranean princess flew off in search of their target, "…maybe I'm not exactly innocent, but someone needs to put a bell on you."

"Cease and desist your destructive actions, or I shall be forced to dismantle you!" Evidently, Starfire had found the Adapter.

In response, wooden fence posts that were once a pristine white flew straight at Starfire, obviously meant to skewer the Titan. Starfire's well-honed reflexes took over, throwing starbolts to meet the remains of the fence.

_**FLASH! F-FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!**_

The wooden projectiles were vaporized, unable to withstand the intense heat. The Adapter that had leaped up after them, however, was mostly unharmed. Several stories in the air, it tackled the alien princess, dragging her down to Earth and slamming her into what once a well-groomed flower garden.

_**WHAM!**_

Defenseless vegetation flew everywhere, filling the air with a pleasant odor and sticky pollen. The Adapter then lifted a foot into the air and repeatedly slammed it straight down into Starfire's gut.

_**BAM! BAM! BAM! WHAP!**_

Starfire caught the last strike, twisted, and threw the hybrid machine off of her and straight into a flying lamp pole, courtesy of Raven's telekinesis.

_**CLANG!**_

As the robot tumbled down the street, Raven floated to Starfire's side and surveyed her for damage, noticing that she was clutching her mid-riff in pain. "That was most unpleasant…"

"You okay?"

Starfire replied with a pained smile, "Do not worry yourself over me, I shall be fine." True to her word, the girl removed her hands from her gut and stood tall, no longer showing any outward signs of pain. The angry red patch on her stomach said otherwise, but Raven wasn't about to waste time questioning her. She had more important things to worry about.

Like the extended cab pick-up truck that was flying towards her.

"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!"

_**

* * *

**_

Will was very unhappy at the moment. No, he was _peeved._

'Why' you ask?

Being at the bottom of a pile of rubble weighing several tons tended to do that. He had tried shoving one of the combat knives he kept on him into the Adapter's "eyes". He was rewarded with a backhand to the face for his effort.

'_Ugh, this is getting me nowhere fast. That thing moves way too fast for its size. Grenades would be handy right about now.'_

Lying on his back, he stared up at the debris he was trapped under. He squinted violet eyes, concentrated, and _released._

_**POW!**_

Chunks of brick, concrete, and wood went flying as if they were weightless, thrown by some unseen force. Will stood, took a deep breath to regain himself, shook the dust out of his dark orange hair, and directed his attention towards the object of his ire. For its part, the Adapter was wholly focused on the small human that was impeding its progress. Several minutes of cat and mouse had forced it to conclude that eliminating this interference would lead to a faster completion of its objectives.

'_I really don't like doing this, but I'd rather not be here when the police and the Teen Titans show up. It's time to take it up a notch.'_

As he said this, his pigments drastically changed: his skin went from pale to a shade of gray not unlike wet cement, his hair shifted to an unhealthy bleached white, and the whites of his eyes faded to jet black.

_**

* * *

**_

Tipped over vats the size of two vans. Heavy duty conveyer belts torn to shreds. Molten iron covering a section of flooring. And a smoldering gray glove sitting on top of a burning hunk of wood that had a vague humanoid form.

"Hah! And you said I couldn't light anything on fire. Shows what you know." Beast Boy propped a foot up on the still-burning remains of the Adapter and gestured with his ungloved hand, feeling vindicated and beyond satisfied.

"You lit yourself on fire in the process. As far as I see it, your point is out the window." Cyborg was performing a systems diagnostic, looking for damage in the leg that had been submerged in the molten iron when he had pulled Beast Boy away from the furnace. Robin, meanwhile, was holding his yellow communicator to his ear.

"…Strange."

"What's up Rob?"

"Yeah, dude, we've been sitting on our thumbs here while you listen to MP3s. What gives?"

"According to some news reports, there's an unidentified metahuman fighting the Adapter in the slums."

Cyborg and Beast Boy both stared wide-eyed in amazement. Beast Boy was the first to say anything. "Really? Anyone we know?"

"He just said unknown…"

"No, he's not an honorary Titan, or an identified super hero for that matter. But I've been following reports for a few months now about a young crime fighter crossing the country: sixteen to nineteen years old, slightly shorter than average, orange hair, green fatigues, and a penchant for hiding in the shadows. They match what I'm hearing now over the radio."

Cyborg had finished his systems check and was already heading towards the T-Car. "So, what do you wanna do? Leave him be, or send some of us to Lead Street to help out?"

Robin thought a moment before speaking into his communicator, "Starfire, Raven. Are you done in the suburbs?"

"_That is affirmative, we have just succeeded in subduing this most troublesome foe."_

Robin allowed himself a small smile at Starfire's proper manner of speech before continuing, "Good. All five of us will converge on Pier Twenty-Three, quickly put a stop to the Adapter there, and then head to Lead Street as a group. There's an unknown metahuman there, and I don't want to take any chances if he's still on the scene when we arrive."

"_Understood. Raven and I are presently making our way to the Pier Twenty-Three."_

"We'll meet you there. Robin out." Robin pocketed his communicator in one of his many belt compartments and kicked his high-performance motorcycle to life.

Cyborg stepped into the T-Car, waving at the green Titan. "Hop in BB. We ain't gonna be the last ones there if I have anything to say about it."

"Coming, comi-DUDE! What'd you do to your car?!" Beast Boy had just now noticed the condition of the vehicle's roof.

"You want a ride, or not?"

"My bad. Your sonic cannon looks cooler than usual today."

"Better."

_**VROOM! VROOOOOM!**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Hehehee!"

Raven was fast losing patience. Ever since Robin had told them about the other metahuman in the city, Starfire had been twirling through the air and making sounds so girlish that Raven was starting to understand why the boys cringed at the idea of watching a chick flick.

Starfire suddenly spun around to face Raven, hands clasped and wearing an unnaturally large smile as she flew backwards towards the piers. Her frizzy hair, the result of trying to kick the Adapter while it was holding a downed power line, nearly caused Raven to emit a very uncharacteristic giggle. "Raven, what do you think this fellow crime fighter will be like? Oooh, maybe he would be willing to sample some of my most enjoyed Tamaranean meals, or join you and I in the exchanging of embarrassing personal secrets!"

"Starfire, only girls talk about that stuff. Before that, who says he's going to become a Teen Titan?" Starfire stared at her, not comprehending why someone would not want to join her and her friends in the glorious endeavor of fighting crime as a member of the Teen Titans.

"But…being a Teen Titan is a joy and an honor! Why else would we now have so many good and valorous friends across this world?"

"Believe it or not, not everyone likes the idea of being part of a group. Some people prefer to be on their own." Raven spoke from experience.

"But surely he could be convinced! He need only see the benefits of such friendship and teamwork and he would doubtless be enraptured by the thought!" Starfire sounded quite sure of herself.

"Look, whatever happens, it's his choice. For all we know, he could be a villain that was just out looking for a fight."

Starfire sighed, forlorn at the thought of losing a potential new friend. After nearly half a minute, in an awkward display of camaraderie, Raven pulled up next to the taller girl and haltingly patted her on the shoulder. Starfire brightened instantly at the friendly gesture from her usually aloof teammate.

"Look Starfire. We're already here. If we finish this quickly, we can head over to Lead Street that much sooner and try to get you a new friend." Even as she said this, a red motorbike and a large silver car skidded to a halt in the parking lot of the piers.

"Indeed!" In a burst of enthusiasm, Starfire rocketed toward the large white robot that was perched on the bow of a freight ship, evidently having spotted the Titans.

_**

* * *

**_

_**POW!**_

Will was launched back from his opponent, but righted himself in mid-air and landed easily. _'Several times stronger than me even when I'm like this.'_

He felt a bolt of animalistic rage pulse through his body, screaming at him to tear the thing limb from limb. He ruthlessly stomped the urge into the dirt, reminding himself why he hated drawing on this higher level of strength.

'_I should be able to get a shot in on its eyes if I can trip it up.'_ Will reached a hand behind his back for a less used weapon, simultaneously lifting the front of his M65 Field Jacket to expose a large and unusual belt buckle.

_**

* * *

**_

"WAAAAAAH!"

_**SPLOOOSH!**_

A marvel of cybernetic engineering hit the water hard, sending a massive plume of sea into the air. After several seconds of silence, the hybrid of man and machine surfaced, animatedly gagging on salt water before beginning his wet path back to the docks. "Man, why I am I the one that always gets thrown in the ocean?"

A cracking voice answered him. "Whoops! Dude, heads up!"

"Buh?" Cyborg looked up to see the Adapter that had just used him for batting practice. Oddly enough, it almost seemed like it was flying through the air straight at him…oh.

"Damn it, BB! Why you gotta have such butterfingers?!" The metallic Titan raised his arm and fired his signature sonic cannon.

_**ZAAAP!**_

The continuous blast of sonic energy caught the falling android square in the chest, the initial shock halting its descent long enough for Starfire to swoop in and toss it towards the dock in a textbook discus throw.

_**SWOOOSH! C-CRASH!**__ Fwip-Fwp-Fwp-__**F-FWOOMB! WHAM! WHAM!**_

It hadn't even finished rolling across the ground when birdarangs and black-enveloped steel girders converged on it, the explosions and solid impacts sending the Adapter flying anew. As it finally tumbled to a stop, a massive shadow appeared over it. In the hulking form of an _Argentinosaurus,_ Beast Boy plummeted straight down onto the comparatively tiny Adapter, attempting to flatten the white robot.

_Fwoo-ooo-__**ooooo-OOOO-BOOOOOM!.!**_

"Awrii-ight!" Cyborg pumped a fist.

"Glorious!" Starfire threw her hands in the air and twirled in place.

"Huh?" Beast Boy shrunk back to normal size, revealing an empty crater. All five Titans deflated.

"Awwww…"

"How frustrating…"

Robin jogged over and surveyed the indentation, brushing at the now powdery concrete. "It must have melded with the ground and escaped."

"Dang it! I thought I had it, too!" Beast Boy rolled around on the ground, dramatically flailing his limbs.

"Please, do not blame yourself. This unsavory opponent has proven quite slippery in the past." Starfire crouched down and consolingly patted her diminutive friend on the shoulder.

Cyborg had been calmly typing away at his wrist keyboard from the moment Beast Boy had given them a clear view. "Our friend ain't' so slippery any more. Now that I know what to look for, I can track the energy signature. It's not getting away so easily."

Beast revived instantly, hopping in circles around his massive friend. "All right, we can still get it!"

"Where to, Cyborg?" Robin had already retrieved the R-Cycle and was in the process of securing his helmet.

"South-southwest. It's moving at roughly seventy miles per hour. Rae, BB, hop in."

"Don't call me that."

"Hey Raven, check out the huge dent Cy put in his car!"

_Thunk!_ "Ouch! Dude, what gives?!" Just as Beast Boy had been about to open his chosen door, Cyborg hit the lock button. Unable to stop himself in time, Beast Boy had pulled himself straight into the unyielding door frame.

The driver's side window opened a fraction of an inch. "You got wings, use 'em."

_**VROOOM!**_

"Hey, dude! Come back!" Beast Boy was left to wade through the dust cloud. "Rassm-frassm hunk a' junk..."

The T-Car was indifferent to his complaints.

"Fine, I see how it is! See if I give _you_ a lift anytime soon!" With that Beast Boy took to wing, taking on the form of a spine-tailed swift in order to keep up with his gasoline and 'unbridled joy' powered teammates.

_**

* * *

**_

'_Again.'_ Will lowered his stance and, for the seventh time, charged at the Adapter in a crouched run. Or rather, he would have, if another of the large attackers hadn't suddenly burst out of the ground in his path and swung at him. Fortunately enough, he saw the attack coming and easily leapt away from it. He had been progressively improving his reactions as he repetitively launched foolhardy frontal attacks at the hulking android.

'_Looks like all that preparation paid off, but this just makes things that much harder.'_

_**VROOM! VROOOOM!**_

'_They're late.'_

_**FWOOOOSH! WHAM!**_

Even as he thought this, he watched Starfire soar in and tackle the new enemy in a streak of green fury. Sharp eyes picked out the splotch of red skin on her flat...

'_...Her flat...whoa......'_ Jaw slack and cheeks red, Will stared in fascination at the girl, entranced by both her toned physique and feminine curves.

A large car that was most likely custom built skidded to a halt nearby, and the large Titan called Cyborg leaned out of the open window, waggling his eyebrows. "Like what you see, dawg?"

'_......I've never...Ah! No! Now's not the time, I need to get out of here!'_ Will violently shook his head, allowed his natural pigments to resurface, and leapt away into the increasingly dark night.

"Ah, hey! Hold up!"

'_Damn hormones...'_

_**

* * *

**_

The roar of a fine-tuned engine. The obvious but unobtrusive beeping of the active scanner. But otherwise...silence.

"...So, I couldn't help but notice that you locked the doors on Beast Boy."

"Yep."

"Thereby causing his face to collide with the door."

"Uh-huh."

"And then left him in the dust."

"That's what happened."

Silence.

Humming engine.

Beeping scanner.

Sweating Cyborg.

"Oh come on, Rae! Don't tell me I should have-"

"I like your style."

"...Oh. Well alright."

"But that doesn't mean you can call me Rae."

"...How 'bout Ra_**chel**__?_" A sly grin.

"........We'll see."

"And _I_ see that we're approaching the outskirts of the city. You think we'll catch a glimpse of this mystery man?" Cyborg glanced at a display, checking to ensure that his sensor array was working properly and the feed to his teammates' communicators was strong.

"It's possible. However, there's no guarantee that the Adapter is even heading towards Lead Street. It could just be a coincidence that it came this way."

"I wonder what he's like...probably some hotshot with flashy powers that thinks he can horn in on our turf."

Raven's monotoned response was an effective brake on Cyborg's suspicions. "Last time I checked, heroism is a good thing."

"Yeah...well.......you hate it when people come in your room! It's the same thing!"

"It's _not_ the same. I keep people out because it's dangerous for them to enter. It's nothing like this 'turf' you're talking about." Raven turned her gaze towards the side of the road. Neither spoke for several seconds.

"...Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Anyway, looks like it's my lucky day. Welcome to Lead Street!" Cyborg waved with a flourish. What greeted them was an impressive wasteland of what once were cramped apartment buildings and rickety family stores. Rotting mailboxes strewn all over the street. Pits blown out of the cobble stone road. Flattened single bedroom houses. Two several-story apartment buildings were even toppled over like trees. A good earthquake would have done comparable damage.

Cyborg pointed frantically ahead. "Hey, that must be him!"

Raven followed his finger, her eyes settling on a slightly short man with unnatural white hair and grey skin, wearing matte green army fatigues with black combat boots and fingerless gloves. In his hands was a length of black cable that seemed to originate from his waist. Just as he charged the Adapter with a low run, the android that the Titans had been chasing suddenly burst from the ground and took a swipe at the man, who easily evaded the attack.

_**FWOOOOSH! WHAM!**_

Starfire dove right in and tackled the elusive hybrid, most likely wanting to give the unknown fighter a chance to back up and regroup. Instead, he froze and stared at her like he had never seen a girl before. As Cyborg neared, he could make out the fact that what would usually be called the whites of the eyes were murky black. The irises themselves were a bright purple, or maybe violet.

"Pfft. Haven't seen anyone do _that_ in a while." Cyborg pulled up next to the apparent soldier, a devious smirk on his face. "Like what you see, dawg?"

After several seconds, the young man violently brought himself out of his stupor. As he shook his head, his hair suddenly shifted to more natural looking dark orange and his skin to a pale tone that was only several shades darker than Raven's. He opened his eyes to reveal the same violet color, though they were now surrounded by actual whites, and made an inhumanely large leap into a nearby alley. "Ah, hey! Hold up!"

"Damn, didn't even get a response out of him. Let's see if I can get a bead on him..." Cyborg turned to his center console, pressing a series of switches as he attempted to track the young man. "Just about the-"

"_Cyborg, where are you?! We've got our hands full over here!"_ Robin barked over the communicator.

"Dah, jeez! I'm coming! Almost forgot." With that, Cyborg leapt out of the T-Car, charging his sonic cannon and taking aim.

_**ZAAAAAP!**_

_**

* * *

**_

A man-shaped object clothed in dark green tearing across the night sky was not too different from the usual sights of a green pterosaur and two floating femmes traversing the city. Most citizens didn't even notice as it passed over their heads. Very few followed its path, and even then, they put it out of their minds as soon as it passed from sight.

In Will's opinion, that was just fine. At the moment, however, stealth was the last thing on his mind. He was having a difficult time rationalizing a number of things he had done in the last half hour, and so wasn't even paying attention to the notice he was getting. He almost appeared to fly as he easily crossed several city blocks for every seemingly weightless leap he took.

'_What's wrong with me? Why did I hesitate when they arrived? Why did I fight that thing head-on? Why did I even fight it in the first place?"_ He sourly grimaced as he crossed over an intersection, though there was a tint of red on his cheeks. _'And when am I going to get used to girls?'_

_Tapswooo__**oooo-**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**-OOOOSH! CRUNCH!**_

Batted away by the clubbed tail of a green _Ankylosaurus_, one of the Adapters went flying into a pile of scrap. The other was nearby, suppressed by a barrage of green and blue-white energy beams.

Beast Boy morphed back to his elfin form, sporting a few superficial scratches on his face but otherwise in good shape. "Is it just me, or is this way easier than it should be?"

"I, too, believe that this battle has been far less difficult than it ought to be." Starfire floated easily, though she didn't lower her stance for even a moment.

Cyborg shifted his sonic cannon back into a hand, which he idly flexed as he approached one of the downed Adapters. "Maybe we're just getting used to them. Only so much regular robots can do, 'specially if we keep 'em contained."

Raven had adopted her meditation posture, focusing her senses. "I don't think so. Their ambient auras are attempting to contact each other."

"..."

"...?"

Raven sighed a long suffering sigh. "That means trouble."

Sure enough, both Adapters easily rose to their feet and approached each other in simian fashion. Robin whipped out a fan of birdarangs. _("Where do you think he keeps them all?") _"Then we'll just have to keep them apart!"

_Fwip-Fwp-Fwp-Fwp-__**B-B-BOOOM!**_

The identical robots were engulfed in a massive explosion, before being obscured by the ensuing smoke cloud. "Surround them!"

The Titans fanned out, each preparing in their own way to bring down the duo. After several seconds, the smoke cloud dissipated, revealing one very much intact Adapter.

Beast Boy blinked several times. "...Uhhhh, Cy?"

Cyborg double-checked the panel on his left arm, furrowing his brows at what he saw. "According to my sensors, their both still there."

"Helloooo, do you see two ugly robots? You must be on the fritz or something."

Raven was of a different opinion. "Or...there could be some sort of trap waiting for us."

Starfire's eyes pulsed with green fire. "If there is some trap involved here, then the only way to discover its nature is to spring it."

_**FWOOOSH!**_

"Starfire, WAIT!" Robin's cry went unheeded as the alien girl rocketed straight towards the looming android. As she neared, the Adapter swung its fists mightily at the Tamaranean, intending to knock her out of the air. She ducked under its arms in the nick of time, then sent her own super powered fist straight at the monochrome mask.

_**SWOOSH!**_

Just as Beast Boy was about to whoop with joy, a _third_ arm suddenly emerged from the robot's chest, uppercutting the completely off-guard Starfire in the chin with an audible crack and sending her flying into the third floor of a nearby apartment building.

_**POW! WOOOO-OOOOOSH! CRUNCH!**_

"What the-," Beast Boy was easily cut off by Robin's almost frantic voice.

"RAVEN! Go see to Starfire! She might need your healing powers!" A succinct nod was the only answer he got. Robin then turned a menacing glare upon the uncaring visage of the Adapter(s). "You just made a _**big**_ mistake. Titans, GO!"

_**

* * *

**_

As Raven floated as quickly as she safely could to her friend's location, her mind was quickly piecing together an explanation for what they had just seen, aided by her expanded senses. _'They must have melded with each other, and are constantly passing through each other's bodies. Normally, such a thing would cause friction between their magical auras, so they melded their auras into one. They're now literally one being.'_

When she reached the third floor of the building, she couldn't immediately see Starfire, and so began carefully shifting the debris until she heard a pained moan. Quickly locating the source, Raven levitated a couch out of the way and found herself facing Starfire's grimace of pain. "Starfire, it's me. Where does it hurt?"

"Khh...It....it feels as if one of my ribs may be cracked." Raven nodded, casting a minor spell in order to "see" under the skin and determine what kind of damage her friend had sustained. Luckily, it was nothing as potentially serious as a cracked bone.

"It's just a pinched nerve and some large bruising, on top of the sting from that hit you took earlier." Even so, Raven immediately set to work mending what she could. Between her powers and the rate that Starfire healed, the alien princess would be as good as new in just a few days.

"I am relieved. I would truly detest being forced to stay in the Tower when my friends were in danger."

"Just avoid any sudden movements or impacts and you'll be fine in a matter of days. For now, stick with your starbolts." Raven finished her spell, having removed the pressure on the affected nerve and reduced the bruising by a portion.

"I thank you. Shall we?"

"Yes, let's." The two female Titans rose into the air and rejoined the battle.

_**

* * *

**_

"Beast Boy, push it back! Cyborg, cover him!" Robin shouted across the battlefield to his teammates as he rushed out of a restaurant, having been thrown across the street and through a window just moments ago. The two other boys immediately complied, Beast Boy shifting into a bison and Cyborg arming his dwindling supply of ballistics.

_**FWOOOM! TH-THUMP-TH-THUMP-WHAM!**_

Knocked off balance by the explosive barrage, the Adapter was caught unprepared by the emerald bison that slammed into its gut, bowling it over. Robin took his chance and threw a metallic disk at the robot—_Fwiiish_—which exploded into a large bolo made of steel wire, wrapping tightly around its arms and chest. At this moment, a metal telephone went soaring in spear fashion at the robots mask, via obsidian telekinesis.

_**CLANG!**_

Two extra arms sprouted from the Adapter's shoulders and neatly caught the makeshift lance. After adopting the weapon's atomic structure, one arm reached down and easily ripped the restrictive bolo off.

Cyborg sniffed derisively. "And we were so close."

"Raven, how's Starfire?" As the team leader, it was Robin's priority to ascertain the condition of his teammates. That's what he told himself. Though, he couldn't deny that he was worried for his best friend and...well..._something_ else. He wasn't quite sure what the other description should be.

"She'll be back at one hundred percent in days, but she needs to stay out of direct combat for the moment."

_**FLASH! FLASH!**_

"Yes, please do not worry yourselves over me. My people are quite resilient."

_**F-FLASH! FLASH!**_

"All right then. Raven, you mentioned earlier that their auras were trying to contact each other. What did you mean?"

"Exactly that. They were trying to establish a resonance between their energies: when two beings of magical origin attempt to combine their powers, they must first establish this resonance. If they fail at that, the mixing of their energy can cause their power to dry up, or worse, violently attempt to take control of the other and explode."

Beast Boy mumbled something to himself about "soul eater" and "complete rip-off". Robin ignored him fantastically, the gears in his head already turning at breakneck speed. Seeing no reaction, emerald Titan grumbled before ambling away in the form of a grizzly bear.

"Then right now, they're 'resonating'?"

"Yes."

Cyborg could be heard in the distance. "Awww yeah! Ain't nothin' like a knuckle sandwich for dess-Oomph!"

"Do you think you can disrupt that resonance?"

Raven gazed at the combined Adapter, mentally reviewing the many spells she had learned in her sixteen year of life. Finally, she answered her leader. "Yes, but it will take a few minutes: that's a very complicated manipulation of foreign magical energies."

"Then you'll get that time." As Robin ran toward his other teammates, Raven adopted the lotus position and began mumbling in a language that she was now the sole speaker of.

"Titans, Raven's working on a spell to stop this thing, but we need to keep it occupied so she can concentrate." Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy gathered around the Boy Wonder, all keeping an eye on the fused android.

Cyborg cracked his mechanical knuckles, sporting several dents and scrapes on his armor and what would likely turn out to be a rather impressive black eye. "So what's the plan, Rob?"

Robin surveyed his other two teammates, noting the multiple tears in Beast Boy's uniform and the almost imperceptible grimace Starfire made when she breathed in. "Starfire can't get in close right now, and unless I miss my guess, both Cyborg and I are running low on ammo. Which means..."

The former sidekick, former high school athlete, and former princess all turned to look at the former Doom Patrol member: Beast Boy. Beast Boy blinked back at them, dumbfounded. "What?"

Robin placed his hands on Beast Boy's shoulders, and spoke to him mask to eye. "You're in the best shape out of all of us. Our plan will have you leading the charge."

"...Muh?"

"Come on, BB." Cyborg chimed in. "I know that you've always wanted to take the lead in a battle plan. Now's your chance to show the world what you're really made of."

"But,-"

"Do not doubt yourself now, you did a glorious job leading our scattered friends against the Brotherhood of The Evil. I have every confidence in X'hal that you will do the same now." Starfire pounded her fist over heart in the traditional Tamaranean Salute of _Mk'rra_.

"I don't think,-"

"Tell ya what," Cyborg snapped his fingers, "if you do this, I'll build you the moped of your dreams."

Beast Boy nearly gave himself whiplash, he turned to Cyborg so fast. "Any color I want?"

"Any color you wa,-"

"ALRIGHTLETSDOITTITANSGO!!!" Beast Boy was off like a shot.

".........."

".........................."

"..................!"

_**POW!**_

"Oof!" Beast Boy came skidding back, face first.

"Nice teamwork, grass stain."

_**

* * *

**_

Author's note: And cut!

Whew, wasn't sure where I was going to stop this chapter. I've decided that I want each chapter to be roughly 5,000 words in length. That seems to be a pretty comfortable number for me. Not so long that it feels bulky, but not so short that I feel like I've jipped you, my readers. The place I was originally going to end it was just after the two Adapters did a fusion dance, but that was only about 4,400. I wasn't satisfied with that, so I kept going and ended up with about 5,600. Oops.

Now, some of you who read the Author's Note at the end of the first chapter might remember how long I said I'm planning this story to be. You may be wondering, 'how's he gonna do that when he only updates every month or so?' Truth is, I've been swamped with the holiday shopping at my part-time job and am a full-time student in college. Specifically, I'm a Music major in Trombone Performance. This means that I need to practice my instrument at least two hours a day. Four hours is ideal. And on top of _that_, I also have a bunch of holiday gigs playing at churches and high schools. But fear not! Classes will be over next Thursday, which means more time to write while still keeping up my practicing. Also, once January rolls around, I'm planning on quitting my part-time job so I can focus more on school. Altogether, this means that you can expect another update by next weekend. After that, I should be able to update once a week. Once I stop working, I might even be able to occasionally pump out two a week. Rejoice!

I actually have a large majority of the story planned out already. In fact, some scenes I have planned in detail. With dialogue even. It's the stuff in between that's giving me problems. Right now is a good example: you're probably wondering what Robin's plan is. Me too. I have absolutely no idea how they're going to keep the Adapter's attention, though I suppose they could just sit down and chat. It always seems like when main characters talk to each other, or the audience, the world gets put on pause. Most of my free time this week is going to focusing on coming up with a believable plan for the Titans to carry out. Meaning that this little mini-arc will end next chapter and we can get a real introduction of Will. Then we can start changing his mind about staying in Jump City.

Again, I am looking for a beta-reader/co-author/soul mate. And reviews too, no matter how small. I want to know how I'm doing and what I need to work on to make my writing better. _*Cue Vera Lynn's __We'll Meet Again.__ ('Cept the where will be right here and the when will be next weekend.)*_

* * *


	4. Chapter 4: Uninvited Final

Ch. 4: Uninvited Final

**GHIBRID-5B COMBAT LOG: 22 JUNE 2008. **

**0330 UTC: -UNIT ACTIVATION. **

**0330 UTC: -FILE/MISSION OBJECTIVES DOWNLOADING. **

**-FILE/MISSION OBJECTIVES INSTALLING. **

**-FILE/MISSION OBJECTIVES INSTALLED. **

**0331 UTC: -UNIT DISPATCHED. HEADING: GRID-1768.**

**0354 UTC: -ARRIVAL AT GRID-1768. **

**-LOADING MISSION OBJECTIVE 1: DEMOLITION OF SITE. **

**0359 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 1 IN PROGRESS.**

**0402 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 1 INTERRUPTED. CAUSE: UNKNOWN ASSAILANT. **

**-RELOADING MISSION OBJECTIVE 1.**

**0403 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 1 INTERRUPTED. CAUSE: UNKNOWN ASSAILANT. **

**-UNKNOWN ASSAILANT RECORDED IN VISUALS. **

**-LOADING MISSION OBJECTIVE 2: IDENTIFICATION. **

**-ANALYZING.**

**-SUBJECT STATUS: METAHUMAN. MATCH: NONE. PROBABILITY OF TEEN TITAN STATUS: 17%.**

**-UNIDENTIFIED METAHUMAN 1 OBSERVED FLEEING. **

**-RELOADING MISSION OBJECTIVE 1.**

**0424 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 1 INTERRUPTED. ASSAILANT CONFIRMED AS UNIDENTIFIED METAHUMAN 1. **

**-LOADING MISSION OBJECTIVE 4: DESTROY INTERFERENCE. **

**-LOADING SINGULAR COMBAT OPTIONS.**

**0429 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 4 IN PROGRESS.**

**0434 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 4 IN PROGRESS.**

**0436 UTC: -ARRIVAL OF GHIBRID UNIT 3B. **

**-ARRIVAL OF TEEN TITAN STARFIRE. **

**-ARRIVAL OF TEEN TITAN ROBIN. **

**-ARRIVAL OF TEEN TITAN RAVEN. **

**-ARRIVAL OF TEEN TITAN BEAST BOY. **

**-ARRIVAL OF TEEN TITAN CYBORG. **

**-LOADING MISSION OBJECTIVE 3: ENGAGE TEEN TITANS. **

**0437 UTC: -UNIDENTIFIED METAHUMAN 1 OBSERVED FLEEING. PROBABILITY OF TEEN TITAN STATUS: 4%. **

**-MISSION OBJECTIVE 4 CANCELLED.**

**0459 UTC: -ANALYZING.**

**-SINGULAR COMBAT OPTIONS SUCCESS RATE: 43%. **

**-LOADING JOINT COMBAT OPTION 78930028620-59820387500398. **

**-INITIALIZING. **

**-CONFIRMATION SIGNAL SENT. **

**-CONFIRMATION SIGNAL ACQUIRED. **

**-EXECUTING JOINT COMBAT OPTION 78930028620-59820387500398.**

**0500 UTC: -JOINT COMBAT OPTION 78930028620-59820387500398 COMPLETED.**

**0501 UTC: -MISSION OBJECTIVE 3 IN PROGRESS.**

_**

* * *

**_

_**WHAM!**_

A great, green _Tyrannosaurus Rex_ reeled back as it took a double-fisted uppercut to the chin. Shaking its massive head to clear its vision, it suddenly shifted into the form of an emerald squirrel, skittering out of the way as four white arms swung at it with bone crunching force. This game of cat and mouse continued for several seconds, with actual felines and rodents mixed in with a number of other nimble beasts.

"Rah!" Cyborg came charging in from behind, intending to strike when all four arms were accounted for and occupied. He didn't count on a foot suddenly extending from the Adapter's back and giving him the boot. _**THWACK!**_

Cyborg was launched into the air, crashing through a miraculously still intact electrical pole and into a floating Starfire._** CRUNCH! WHAP!**_

Fortunately, she was able to right herself and arrest her friends flight, though not without a pained gasp and wince. "Augh!"

"Sorry Star. You okay?"

"For the moment."

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was still frantically dodging the flailing limbs of the combined android, shifting forms so fast that it occasionally looked as if he were odd hybrids of feral features only possible in one's imagination. Robin, taking a mental inventory of the contents of his utility belt, spied the sparking power lines left behind by Cyborg's recent aerial adventure.

_**BZZT!**_

"Beast Boy! Lead it this way!"

With a hop of kangaroo legs, the emerald Titan immediately complied. The double Adapter followed at a quick pace, the extra two arms aiding its simian form of locomotion. As it neared the Boy Wonder, a spinning metallic disk suddenly hit the ground it was passing over, exploding in green, sticky goo. _SPLURCH!_

The android was pulled to a violent stop, for the moment unable to escape the adhesive and elastic material. As it struggled, Robin lifted the live power line in insulated gloves and threw it straight at the menace.

_**ZZZZZZT!**_ The Adapter violently convulsed, circuitry going haywire from the electrical current flowing through its body. Until one of the hands gripped the cable by pure chance.

_**BZZZT! PFSSSSHHH!**_

As the molecular structure of the android shifted to steel, copper, and various other metals, the green syrup it was stuck in flash-fried into steam. Electrical energy sparked, danced, and cascaded around its entire form as it renewed its advance on the four Teen Titans.

_**ZZZZZZZ-ZZZTTT!.!.!**_

Robin stared, completely straight-faced. "....Huh."

Beast echoed him, though he was notably wide-eyed and slack-jawed in comparison to his leader's unyielding mask. "_Dude_."

"Ya know, I was just thinking about how nice it would be to have my circuits fried." Cyborg's shaky grin wouldn't have fooled a blind man.

"W-we will be victorious...yes?" Starfire wrung her hands together, unsure if she could call on the strength of boundless confidence even if she wanted to.

_SHEEN!_

In the span of half a second, a wavy tendril of black extending over the Titans heads and into the joint android's chest. Gaping over their shoulders, the Titans could only watch in fascination as that obsidian string, streaming out of the chakra on Raven's forehead, quickly expanded in size as her voice similarly increased in volume. "...malkazir, Rakashoth, AZARATH, _METRION_, _**ZINTHOS!**_"

_**SHEEEN!**_ For an instant, the Adapter's entire body was engulfed by the black aura, before the energy completely dissipated into the air.

A beat of silence.

_**VRVRVRVRVRVR!**_The large, multi-armed android shook, before splitting into two identical white behemoths. _SHLOOP!_

Both collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Beast Boy turned fully towards Raven. "So...that's it?"

"That's it."

"......Sweet."

"Alright Raven!" Cyborg jogged over to his dark teammate, thumping her on the back and nearly knocking the petite girl over.

"Yes, a most glorious display!" Starfire engulfed her best girl friend in her patented Hug of Doom™.

Deadpan still in place as she was having the life squeezed out of her, Raven directed her attention to Robin. "Can we go now? I don't know how much more 'love' I can take."

Robin was scanning the nearby rooftops, seemingly oblivious to the life threatening situation his teammate was in. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll take care of this."

Cyborg whooped for joy. "Woooo! Time to give Grand Theft Auto some quality lovin'!"

"Dude, no fair!" Beast Boy jumped at Cyborg agitatedly. "I totally called it before the party even started!"

"You're gonna hafta beat my baby home then!" Cyborg hopped inside the T-Car, nearly smacking his head on the still-caved-in roof. _**VROOOM!**_

"Hey, come back here!" In a flash, Beast Boy morphed into a falcon, winging his way after the futuristic car.

Raven stared after her retreating teammates, before directing her gaze towards Robin. "...Don't stay out too late."

"Yes mother."

With a slight upturn of the lips, Raven engulfed herself in black energy, looking forward to a relaxing meditation after the last hectic hour. By the time her form and signature obsidian shroud disappeared into thin air, Robin was already deep in discussion with a suave looking police officer that had just strolled his way over.

"And you say that none of them had any specific target?" The man gazed up from his notepad, looking completely unimpressed with the situation.

"Right." Robin ignored the man's expression. "All they did was trash the area, and then drop everything once a Teen Titan arrived on the scene. I think they were trying to gather data on us, though for what, I couldn't say. Are you new or something? I've never seen you before."

"Just transferred in last week from Phoenix."

Starfire ventured towards her leader. "Robin? May I-"

"Go ahead, Starfire. I'll be fine." Robin barely spared a glance in her direction.

"Oh..." Starfire's entire body seemed to sag, before she slowly lifted herself into the air.

Robin was oblivious, totally focused on grilling the police officer, who seemed far more concerned with his perfectly groomed hair than the destruction around him.

_**

* * *

**_

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Raven floated in a lotus position over her bed, cloak removed and eyes closed.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Her room was mostly dark, sparsely lit by scented candles.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Her meditation had been going exceptionally well. With Trigon subdued several months ago, Rage was much easier to deal with, as she no longer had such a strong feed of demonic evil from her father.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

When she had teleported directly into her room (in an attempt to steer clear of Cyborg and Beast Boy's squabbling), the grandfather clock opposite her bed had read 9:14. She had no idea how long she had been conversing with her personified emotions: time moved at its own pace when she was in meditation.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos.........?"

An eye cracked open, focusing on her door. Someone was walking by. Someone weighed down by disappointment. A half second of concentration told her that that someone was Starfire. Her half opened eye slid over to her clock.

10:56.

_**

* * *

**_

"BOO-YAH! That's five flag caps for the win!"

"Sweet! Those dudes didn't stand a chance against us!"

"Beast Boy! That ain't no way to talk about our teammates!" Cyborg fixed Beast Boy with a disappointed stare.

For about three seconds.

"Who am I kiddin'?! That was all us!"

When they had arrived at the Tower, the two had broken the Grand Theft Auto IV disc while they fought over who had the right to play. They'd compromised by turning on the Xbox 360 and teaming up online on Halo 3.

"Totally! Hey, you wanna do some Team Snipers now?"

"Naw, I think that's enough for tonight." Cyborg was already signing out of Xbox Live.

Beast Boy jumped on top of his seat. "What?! Dude, come on! What happened to being God's own anti-son-of-a-bitch machine?!"

"Too bad, BB. It's already quarter after eleven, and you know how Robin bitches when anyone but him stays up till midnight." Cyborg turned the machine off, switching the main screen over to the crime report that he knew Robin would want to update as soon as he got back.

Sour faced, Beast Boy. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going. Hey, Sta-huh? Where'd she go?"

"What's up?" Cyborg looked up from his work on the report preparation.

"Starfire's gone. I thought she was in here just a little bit ago." Beast Boy pursed his lips, wondering where his friend had gone.

Cyborg shrugged, heading for the elevator. "She probably got tired. You know how she likes to get up early."

"Yeah, I guess." Beast Boy didn't look satisfied, but followed his large friend just the same.

_**

* * *

**_

_**VROOOOM! SKRRRTTTCH!**_

Robin roared into the garage at full speed, screeching to a halt exactly in his designated spot. He tore his helmet off, running a tired hand through his hair before going through the routine of securing his vehicle in place. As soon as that was done, he headed for the elevator, punching in the floor for the Main Room.

_Ding!_

"What was that whole attack about? No matter how many times I say it, information gathering doesn't sound right. Then what? Was something else happening somewhere? Who sent them in the first place?" Robin let out a long, pained sigh. "A detective's work is never done."

_Ding!_

"Looks like everyone's already asleep." Robin walked briskly towards the computer terminal, intent on doing some research. When he saw the screen, he noticed that someone had already prepped a report for him to work with. He then noticed another minimized window in the tray, labeled "Read Me Spikey."

"Cyborg then. Wonder what he's got for me." Robin leaned over the chair, maximizing the window.

_The Mystery Hero._

Robin skimmed through the short document, noting a physical description of the unknown crime fighter and the observation of an extremely long and high jump, as well as the unusual pigment changes. He let out a low growl when he read that the young man had stared at Starfire-_stared at Starfire-_for several seconds. "I'll have to talk to Cyborg about this in the morning."

Deciding that he wanted something to munch on while he worked, Robin made his way to the kitchen, deciding on a banana that he had seen in Beast Boy's fruit bowl. As he was reaching for his prize, he noticed a wrapped package lying on the counter. Star's birthday present. His present.

"Damn, I forgot." He grabbed the package, jogging towards the elevator. "The report can wait."

_Ding!_

_**

* * *

**_

Will sat in the driver's seat of a large, white van. Observing. Scanning. Waiting.

'_Most of the lights are already out. Just need the Main Room now. Probably around 1:30.'_

Will climbed out of the seat and made his way into the back of the van. Rather than more seats, the back housed numerous electronic devices, including a state-of-the-art computer. A few button presses and clicks of the mouse, and he was reading through daily news articles.

'_Now...anything about military convoys in Arizona?'_

_**

* * *

**_

A moon that had been full just days ago. Stars that were now shining brightly against a clear sky. A stray, wispy cloud crawling its way across the starlight. Starfire saw all of it, but was completely unaware of what her eyes were directed at. She sat on the edge of the Tower's roof, hugging her knees to her chest as she gazed into space.

"Robin...did you not promise before we departed for battle? Have you not been doing the coming out of the shell? Have we not become closer? Why do you continue to eschew such positive growth?"

A voice came from directly behind her. "Because I'm not very smart."

"Eek!" Startled, the Tamaranean girl leapt several feet into the air. "R-Robin! I...I did not realize-!"

Robin waved her explanation away. "No, it's alright, it was my fault. I'm sorry for scaring you. Is this seat taken?"

Starfire lowered herself back to her spot, shaking her head distractedly.

"........So...."

"............So...."

Robin squirmed where he sat, attempting to work up the nerve to really talk. Finally, he opened his mouth. ".....The investigation is off to a good start. The remains of the Adapters have been sent to the Jump City branch of S.T.A.R. Labs. The scientists there are confident they can find something to clue us in, and the police commissioner assured me that he'll have his men combing the city for anything suspicious."

"That is good to hear."

Out of the corner of his eye, Robin could see his companion resting her chin dejectedly on her knees. _'Damn. Come on, Boy Wonder, just apologize already!'_

"Star, about earlier...I'm sorry. I just-I got so engrossed in trying to find some clue to what's going on, that I completely forgot about you."

Starfire sluggishly shook her head. "It is...alright. It was not right of me to expect you to leave your task simply because I was feeling selfish."

"Don't say that!" The conviction in Robin's voice startled the Tamaranean girl. "You weren't being selfish at all! I promised you that I would give you your present when we got back, and I neglected that promise! Besides, you, of all people, deserve to be a little selfish now and then!"

By this point, Starfire was openly gaping at her leader. Then she started giggling uncontrollably. "Heeheeheeheeheehee!"

"Wh-what? What did I say?" Baffled, Robin could only stare at the nearly hysterical girl sitting next to him.

Starfire was making a futile attempt at smothering her giggles in her hand. "Heeheehee-it is-heeheeheehee-it is just-heeheeheehee!"

Robin cracked a grin, her infectious laughter getting to him.

After several more seconds, Starfire finally managed to get herself under control, though the soft smile she wore betrayed her amusement. "I am...humored that you believe that I should be selfish. However, had I obeyed my desires, I am most certain that you would be doing the grumbling and complaining, upset that I had taken you from your duties."

"Heh," Robin let the barest of chuckles escape, "I guess you're right. Still, I made you wait. I really am sorry."

"There is no need to apologize. All has been forgiven."

"Well good!" Starfire cocked her head cutely. "I'd feel really bad about giving you your present like nothing happened."

A package wrapped in simple, green wrapping paper suddenly appeared from under his cape. Starfire's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oooooh, truly, truly? It is time to do the opening?"

"Yeah. Happy Birthday, Star." Green paper went flying in every direction.

"Oh, thank you very much! It is wonderful! It is...it is...what is it?" She held a colorful binder in her hands.

Smirking, Robin reached over and flipped it open. "You have to look in it to see."

So Starfire looked...and let out a slow gasp. "These are-"

"Photos of the Titans. See, this one is the day we first gathered on this island." Sure enough, one of the pictures on the first page held the five original Teen Titans. Robin and Beast Boy were both several inches shorter and many more pounds lighter. Starfire and Raven both looked many times more insecure, though for different reasons. Cyborg looked to have changed the least, but a closer examination revealed a grumpy undertone to his grin that was no longer present. Behind the group was a massive device that the Gordanians had used to project an even more massive image onto the clouds. They knew nothing about each other besides their crime fighting names and their basic abilities, but even then, there was an obvious undercurrent of camaraderie that could only be achieved by saving the world together. Trust. Companionship. It was, in Starfire's opinion, what the Teen Titans were all about.

Starfire flipped a few more pages, pointing out photo after memorable photo.

"This one is from when you and I danced at the Junior Prom." Robin and Starfire slow dancing around the deck of a cruise ship. Red and blue police lights could be seen in the background, as well as a couple slowly overcoming the paralyzing effects of man-spider venom.

"This was taken after Raven and Terra saved the Tower from sinking..." Though her smile was somewhat weighed down by the unfortunate fate of their friend, she still happily gestured towards a picture of the five original Titans crowding around the blushing blonde, all attempting to congratulate the girl on her impressive display of power, resolve, and faith. Her fingers lingered for a moment on this memory, tracing an outline of their tragic friend's face.

"This one is of all of the honorary Titans!" Captured in this picture was an array of over thirty costumed teenagers, their bright, multicolor costumes clashing horribly with each other. All were attempting, and failing miserably, to keep a serious air about them as they posed for the camera. Whether they lost their composure of their own volition (Kid Flash) or were being roped into ridiculousness by another (Bushido being forced into a cancan line by Más y Menos), each and every one of them had one thing in common. They were all Teen Titans.

"This is...most wonderful Robin." Starfire was on the verge of tears. "Thank you. Very much."

Robin smiled sheepishly. "I'm glad you like it. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to get you."

"Yes, you did very well. However, there is one thing I am curious of."

"Shoot."

Starfire pursed her lips. "I do remember setting cameras in place for a majority of these photographs. But in some, such as this," Starfire singled out a picture of Raven attempting to cook pancakes,"I have no recollection of such preparation."

"Oh, that's because Cyborg has a net of security cameras throughout the whole Tower. When I decided I wanted to make you a photo album, I raided the security tapes after getting copies of all the good ones from Beast Boy and Cyborg."

The Tamaranean Princess blinked. "I...was not aware that our residence contained such an array."

Nodding absent-mindedly, Robin began listing various locations of hidden cameras. "Yeah, he's got them everywhere: the Main Room, the Training Room, the Laundry Room, each of our rooms, the-"

"There are even cameras in our rooms?"

Robin did a double take, and then waved his hands frantically in front of his body, attempting to belay any suspicions while at the same time defending against possible attacks. "No! NO! Nothing like that! They're turned off when the owner is in their room! They don't record anything like that!"

She wasn't quite certain what "that" referred to, but decided that, for now, it wasn't important. She merely smiled at him in her signature joyful way, effectively halting his denials and putting the perpetually high-strung leader at ease. They continued to talk a little longer, until she let out a yawn, inciting Robin to send her to bed. She had no complaints as her head hit the pillow (a recent revelation for her), smiling as she left consciousness behind.

_**

* * *

**_

"_Hey, you're new here, right?" A boy stuck his hand out to another that was a few years younger than him. "My name's Benjamin, but you can call me Ben. I just came her a few months ago myself. My dad's this big shot in the military, and this is one of the places he runs. He said I'd probably like it here, and I get to learn a bunch of good stuff while I'm at it."_

_At this, he paused. The smaller boy stared at the extended hand, showing no sign of returning the gesture. Ben looked at his own hand in confusion, then grabbed one of the small, pale hands at the younger boy's side and shook it vigorously. "You don't talk much, huh? S'okay, I don't mind."_

_Ben suddenly snapped his fingers as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, I've got a good idea! I'll be your big brother! You're probably going to need help getting used to this place, and I'm the only one that gets to explore and talk to the adults. Say, how old are you anyways?"_

_The younger boy stared at him for a moment, before he finally deigned to answer. "...Eight."_

_Ben ran a hand over his short black hair, thinking. "Okay, so you're not the youngest one here, but you're pretty close. I'm twelve, and I'm the fourth oldest trainee here. There are twenty-nine of us, but I heard that there's supposed to be about fourteen more coming soon. Weird thing is that I'm the only one that didn't have one of those chips put in my head. Do you know what they're for?"_

"_.....One of the doctors told me that it stops us from using our powers when we shouldn't."_

"_Oh, cool! You've got powers, huh? What do they do?"_

_The small boy looked away. "...I.....I don't know."_

_Ben's face deflated in disappointment. "Oh, well. Anyway, I guess that means I don't have any powers. I wonder if I can get some."_

"_..."_

"_Oh yeah! Before I forget: you see that bald guy over there?"_

"_Which one?"_

"_The bald one."_

"_...Which one?"_

"_The one with the scar."_

"_......"_

"_The one with no right eyebrow."_

"_Oh."_

"_He's not as scary as he looks. He's actually a pretty nice guy, but his job demands that he be hard on us when he's training us. Don't take offense if he yells at you."_

_**DING! DING! DING!**_

"_Hey, that's the lunch bell! We better get to the mess hall before all the good stuff is taken!" Ben grabbed the other boy's wrist, dragging him several steps before coming to a sudden stop._

"_Come to think of it," Ben scratched his chin, "I don't know your name yet. Not much of a big brother, am I? So? Spill."_

"_......William."_

"_William, huh? Man, you've got a proper sounding name, too. How 'bout we make it a bit manlier, like I did mine? I'll call you Will. 'Zat sound good?"_

"_I don't-"_

_Ben ruffled Will's orange bowl cut. "Will it is. Now c'mon! I think they're serving salmon today!"_

_**

* * *

**_

"_Aw, man. I hate soy based meals!"_

"_They have good nutritional value."_

"_You only say that because you have no taste buds!" Ben pointed at his companion dramatically. "I'll bet stuff like this is the reason why you're two inches shorter than average!"_

"_That can't be true. Soy beans are a source of complete protein. In that logic, these soy meals are likely the reason I am not shorter." Oddly enough, he didn't deny having no taste buds._

_Ben slapped a palm over his face. "I was joking. Three years and you still have no sense of humor. And quit talking all proper like that. You're eleven."_

"_I'm not sure what you mean by that. Also, I do have a sense of humor. You will find that the palm you just pressed against your face has been covered in bean curd, though I was not the culprit."_

"_Gak!" Ben jogged for the counter, grabbing up paper towels. "Damn it Freddy!"_

"_Hahahahaha!" Freddy, blonde and irreverent, burst into laughter. His outstretched arm reeled itself back in from three seats away. "You're the only one with no powers, so it's fair game! Hahahaha!"_

_Ben muttered under his breath, grabbing a bottle of hot sauce. "I'll show you fair game." Before anyone could blink, Ben had crossed the distance, pried open Freddy's elastic jaws, and squirted nearly half of the bottle into his mouth. _

"_Aaaauuugh!" The entire mess hall was engulfed in raucous laughter as Freddy stilt-legged his way to the nearest water fountain, gagging all the way. Ben took his seat across from Will, one of the few in the group that was not jeering their stretchy comrade, though he had to wipe his miniscule smirk away the moment Ben looked in his direction._

"_So, Will," Ben's serious expression was a far cry from the sadistic smile he had worn just moments ago, " I heard that you're going on your first mission tomorrow. Where is it?"_

_Will didn't look up from his meal. "Afghanistan."_

"_And what do they want you to do?"_

"_Several days ago, a group of imprisoned Taliban soldiers rebelled against their Northern Alliance captors and took over the __Qala-i-Jangi fortress. My job is to help take it back."_

"_They want you to kill."_

_Will's spork paused for half an instant on the way to his mouth. "Yes."_

"_When do you leave?"_

"_In five minutes." Sure enough, a pack of weapons and supplies sat next to Will's seat, ready for action._

_Ben sighed heavily. "...Be careful, alright?"_

"_We'll see." With that, Will polished off his meal, hefted his bag, and left for the helipad._

_Ben slouched in his chair, a melancholy expression painted on his face. ".......there's just something fundamentally wrong about sending an eleven-year old boy to war, no matter how important national security is."_

_**

* * *

**_

_**BANG!**_

_Ben burst into the exercise room, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey Will, we're getting two new guys today! They're supposed to be about your age! Pretty great, huh?"_

"_What skills and abilities do they have?"_

_Ben gave him an incredulous look. "What? Is that all you have to say?"_

"_It seems rather pertinent to me."_

"_Ugh. Fine. One of 'em is supposed to be really powerful: super strength, flight, energy blasts. Definite shock troop candidate. The other is kinda weird, I couldn't make heads or tails out of what the report was saying. We'll just have to see when he gets here, but he's also supposed to be really good with computers, so he might end up being more tech support than anything else."_

"_Hm."_

"_Hey, what are you doing anyway?" The entire time the two had been talking, Will had been juggling several reflective objects while simultaneously using the treadmill. _

"_Yesterday, Captain Lynch told me that my hand-eye coordination has gotten sloppy. To demonstrate, he told me to catch the rocks that he had fifteen soldiers throw at me continuously for ten minutes. I was not allowed to use my powers. I missed about fifty of them, and was hit roughly ten times. He retracted his statement, saying that my skills were acceptable, but I was not satisfied with the results."_

"_But...you..." Ben was somewhat horrified by what he saw on the display: 36 minutes and 37 seconds. Counting. Upon closer observation, he spied nicks and cuts all over his friend's forearms._

"_I believe I am improving: I have not injured myself for more than two minutes now."_

"_STOP!" Ben deftly snatched the objects out of the air. All five of them. They were combat knives. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"_

_Still jogging at a brisk pace, Will began applying nearby ointment and bandages to his wounds. "Avoidance of pain is an effective motivator."_

_Ben slumped onto a weight machine. ".....I don't get you. I seriously don't get you."_

"_I cannot allow myself to grow complacent."_

"_That's not what I meant....I'm gonna do some warm-ups. When you're done running, go get those wounds properly treated. I'll need someone to spot me on the lifts. Preferably someone who won't bleed all over me if they have to take the weight away."_

"_About twenty more minutes should be enough. I don't want to open the stitches."_

_**

* * *

**_

_The barracks were silent. Dark. Many of the trainees were sleeping off the day's hard training and missions._

_Will lay awake in the top hammock, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't tired yet. He never needed as much sleep as the rest of them. He was interrupted from his musings when a long-fingered hand snaked up to his level and poked him in the side. "You awake?"_

"_I'm always awake."_

"_Right, I forgot." The hand, and the corresponding whisper, belonged to Ethan. He was one of the two new recruits Ben had been so excited about a few months ago. At fourteen years old, he was a year younger than Will, though he stood nearly a foot taller than his elder. "You were busy kicking Freddy's butt in combat practice, so Ben probably didn't get a chance to tell you."_

"_Go on."_

"_Well, apparently, this green guy showed up in the Oval Office a few days ago." Ethan's gestured as he spoke, first outlining an oval, then miming quotation marks. " He claimed to be a Martian and said that an 'invasion' was on the way. Rick and Todd were on guard duty in D.C. and subdued him pretty quick. Guy didn't put up much of a fight. Some invader, huh?"_

"_What's the point to this?"_

_The hand pointed at Will. "Well, the scientists have been looking at his body. Turns out that, even if he didn't seem to be much of a fighter, he's really powerful," the hand started ticking off points, "shapeshifting, super strength, density control, and a bunch of others. The geneticists are thinking that they might be able to infuse his DNA with a human's and give them at least some of his powers. Ben was the first to volunteer as a test subject."_

"_Hm."_

"_Yeah, cool huh? Next time we see him, Ben might be a half-alien. Kinda like Doug." One long finger gestured at a massive young man in the bottom bunk across the walkway. His eyes were, surprisingly, open, casting a slight orange glow on the hammock above him. The other new recruit usually went to sleep as soon as he finished what he was doing, always wanting to be fully functional for the next day's training. He had likely been listening the whole time._

"_Kinda like me, huh?" Even in his quietest whisper, Doug's deep voice rumbled across the walkway. "Might be interesting, s'long as there is a next time."_

_**

* * *

**_

"_Hey, guys."_

"_What's wrong with you?" Ben looked unusually haggard, his normally pleasant features drawn into a dirty scowl._

"_You know about that invasion that's going on right now, right? The Imperium?"_

"_Yeah, they've already deployed two squads of us, and the rest of us are on standby. What about it?"_

"_I was ordered to back up our databanks onto portable drives. In case this facility went under. I don't think they meant for me to find this, though." Ben held out a small stack of recently printed paper._

_The rest of the trainees scanned the contents, eyes widening in astonishment. "What...what is this?!"_

"_Documentation of the means used to obtain a number of assets. Assets that go by a majority of your names."_

"_It says here-but they told me that my parents died in a car crash!" One young man clenched his fist, crumpling one of the papers._

"_They __**lied**__."_

_Silence. Will, short and athletic, stood next to Ethan, long and lanky. They were the only two who did not find their names on the list. Nevertheless, their faces were hard with anger._

"_.............We're leaving. And we're blowing this place to hell while we're at it." Doug spoke up, eyes flashing in fury._

"_**YEAH!**__" Numerous hands, eyes, and bodies charged with energy. Others flexed impressive muscles. Some morphed their bodies into shapes other than human._

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!**_

_**

* * *

**_

Will's eyes opened, roused by the quiet but incessant beeping of the clock on the dash, which read 2:00 a.m. After pushing a button to stop the alarm, he glanced at the video feed on screen. The image was frozen, showcasing Titans Tower, completely dark. The time on the screen read 1:31 a.m. _'Right on schedule.'_

Will shrugged into his military issue jacket and stepped out of the van. After locking the doors, he leapt several stories straight up, onto the roof of an apartment building. _'Time to work.'_

_**

* * *

**_

Author's Note: Yes, I know I promised last weekend. All I can say is that I'm sorry to those who were waiting on the chapter. I had a hard time getting the juices flowing. It shouldn't be so difficult now. We've gotten to the part of the story where I really know what I want to write.

I gave you a little bit of background on Will, though this is nowhere near his whole story. Those of you that are familiar with the DC Animated Universe may recognize some of the things mentioned in his dream, though I tried to preserve some ambiguity. Anyway, next chapter will finally start digging into Will: his powers, his personality, some of his motivations. All that good stuff. I'm also thinking of doing this next story arc in first-person from Will's perspective, both as an experiment and to get you readers into his head a little bit more. Mostly likely _just_ this story arc.

As usual, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter written by this weekend, though I won't promise anything. I prefer my balls right where they are, thank you very much. Which reminds me: there were some curse words in this chapter. That's one of the reasons I gave this story an M rating, though I promise that they won't start swearing like sailors, especially not Beast Boy. But you have to remember that all of the Titans are either in the middle of or at the tail end of puberty. That's the age when guys start having the desire to look cooler than they really are, which leads them to curse any chance they get. You also have to remember that I am almost 21, so cursing isn't a big deal to me either way. I don't take much note if it's there or not. Sorry.

See you next time!


	5. Chapter 5: Into the Light 1

Ch. 5: Into the Light 1

It was the dead of night, but one could not call the night dead. College students and middle-aged men alike stumbled out of bars, some with arms around another person. They did not necessarily know each other, but all that mattered to their inebriated senses was that they were clinging to a warm body, preferably of the opposite sex. City buses and late-night commuters flashed headlights, honked horns, and occasionally screeched tires. The moon, while not quite full, oxymoronically cast its pale light brightly on the city. With almost no cloud cover, the multitude of stars freely shone in the sky. Will was not exactly happy with the weather, but he could bring himself not complain. After all, he had participated in more missions than most cared to count where such clear weather would have been a blessing.

At the time, he was crossing rooftops, looking for criminals that would scare easily and talk once he was gone. His intention was to draw attention without allowing specifics to slip out, keeping his hunters suspicious and hesitant to react. After all, rumors spread quickly through prison, but who would fully trust an inmate?

As he landed on the roof of an auto shop, scuffling in the alley he had just passed over caught his attention: a high-pitched yell. "No, stop! Let me go! Somebo-Mmph!"

A gravelly drawl cut the first off. "Jes' shut up for a few ya' bitch! You'll be beggin' fer more when I'm done witcha'!"

"Mmph!"

'_Target acquired.' _

Will fell into the alley and landed silently behind a dumpster. As he peered around the corner, he could clearly make out the reason for the noise. A man, wearing an oversized brown trench coat and a beanie, was using his much greater weight to pin a woman against the concrete wall. From what the young man could make out past the vagrant, he was covering the woman's mouth with one hand while the other was clumsily groping at her waist, attempting to pull her short pants down. Though she was struggling mightily, her thin arms were no match for the man's weight, let alone his strength. Absorbed as he was in his ignoble task, the man was completely unguarded. _'Time to make my appearance.'_

"Tha's righ'," the man slurred, "yur jes' a dirty fuckin' whore. Ya' kn-URK!"

_**SWOOOOOSH!**_

Taking particular care not to look at the partially undressed woman, Will grabbed the man by the collar of his coat and hauled him straight up and onto the roof. The man was silent, possibly too disoriented to scream. Two more jumps later and they were seventy meters high above ground, hurtling towards the side of a large apartment building. Suddenly realizing that colliding with the concrete wall would not only be painful in its own right, but would also send him falling twenty-three floors straight down, the man finally reacted.

Loudly.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! PUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWN!!!"

Not only were his cries painful to the ear, they also grated against the former soldier's instinctual desire for stealth. He knew exactly what would quiet him down. Less than two meters from the wall, he twisted in mid-air and planted his feet against the surface. Then he _stood,_ parallel to the ground. The unnatural perspective had the desired effect of silencing the degenerate, as he hung from Will's adjusted grasp by an ankle. Unlike Will, he was still a victim of gravity, and dangled towards the distant curb. Will's voice was calm as he addressed the man. "You will not speak unless I ask you a question. Do you understand me?"

The man nodded his head frantically. Now that he was no longer flapping behind him in the wind, Will became aware of his odor. He reeked of alcohol, so much so that Will nearly dropped him when the stench ploughed into his nostrils. His nigh unintelligible speech from earlier now explained, Will righted the man and held him by his shirt collar. He did not want the alcohol-laden blood to rush to the man's head and knock him unconscious. Will's eyes narrowed, affecting his best approximation of a glare. He usually interrogated and dealt with enemies from behind, never allowing his victim to see his face.

"What is your name?" Will inquired.

"M...Michael, sir. My, uh, friends call me Mickey-but you can call me Mickey if you want! I don't mind! Y-you can call me whatever you want!" Frightened back to (partial) sobriety, Mickey babbled, rather than slurred. Now Will understood what the drunken fool was saying.

Will nodded minutely. "Mickey then; what were you doing to that woman?"

"I......I was.....helping her! Yeah! She was cold! I was givin' her some body heat!" Mickey grinned winningly. At least, he tried: the effect was somewhat dampened by missing teeth and a five-day shadow.

"It's the middle of June in California. Besides, she seemed rather distressed with your proximity and physical contact. _Try again Mickey."_ Will growled. Growling, he could do.

"..I...ah...uh..." Mickey fumbled, stuttered, and gestured futily.

"If that's the case Mickey, I'm done speaking with you." The Will carelessly tossed the drunken man up and over the street.

"_**AAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAHOKAYI'LLTAAAAAAAAALK!.!"**_

_**SWOOOSH!**_ Seconds later, they were in the same position as before, only on the opposite side of the street and thirty stories up. "Then talk."

"I was tryin' ta screw her, okay! We was in a bar an' we was drinkin' an' she said some stuff an' I said some stuff an' we went outside an' I started doin' stuff an' she said no an' I kept tryin' an' PLEASE DON' KILL ME!" Tears and slobber were streaming out of Mickey. More likely than not, urine was also streaming out of him.

"I am told that killing is frowned upon in society, and I have no power to arrest you either." Hope splashed across the drunken man's face, but Will quickly dashed that hope when he looked "up", back in the direction from which they came. "However, it appears as if she has called the police. I can see her conversing with an officer right now. He will be able to arrest you. Be careful in prison Mickey."

Two leaps and some stealthy maneuvering saw Mickey dropped in the dumpster in the alley, screaming his head off about the shoulder Will had broken. It was actually his collarbone, but he was not in possession of his full faculties. He was still very drunk. Will checked the digital timepiece he kept in one of his jacket pockets: 0227.

'_That should be more than enough for tonight.'_ The young man began jumping across the rooftops again, heading for his van._ 'I still need three more hours of sleep if I am to function tomorrow.'_

_**

* * *

**_

Near the alleyway, the assaulted woman was frantically describing her case to the police officer standing in front of her.

"He just started pawing at me! I tried to tell him to stop, but he wouldn't listen! Then, all of a sudden, he was gone! He made a weird sound and then he just disappeared!"

The young officer looked skeptical, not to mention desperately in need of a coffee. "He just disappeared? Do you have any idea where he went?"

The woman gestured frantically, though it was obvious that she was just as confused as the police officer was. "Well, I think I saw another person in the alley just before he disappeared. And then I think I saw an object flying up onto the roof."

"Miss Tullis," the officer rubbed his eyes tiredly, "unless you can tell me where the perpetrator might be, I'm going to have to assume that this is a false alarm."

"No really! He just-"

_Fwump! _"OOOOOWWW! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" Both Miss Tullis and her companion jumped into the air, startled by the cry. Being a recent graduate of a community college Criminal Justice program, the police officer did the responsible thing and told Miss Tullis to wait in the Police Cruiser while he investigated. Shining his torch into the previously deserted alleyway, the officer was surprised to find a haggard looking man attempting to climb out of the dumpster, whimpering every time his left arm so much as twitched.

The young officer turned back towards his cruiser. "Ma'am? Is this your disappearing man?"

_**

* * *

**_

As he bunny hopped his way back to the van, Will began scrutinizing his earlier actions in the slums.

He had been restocking on supplies. Besides MREs, these mostly consisted of electronic components and replacement fluids, as well as instruction books on vehicle and computer repair. He had been using the van since January, and there were no places that one could take such a van for repairs without the electronics suite raising suspicion. He had hidden his merchandise (purchased or otherwise) under the over-sized shirt and pants he had been wearing.

When the strange humanoid machine had appeared, Will had considered simply leaving. The only reason he fought crime was to draw the attention of his pursuers. However, when the machine had thrown the boy that had been dressed in a strikingly similar manner to Will, he had a strange urge to stop it. As his usual assaults from the shadows met with little success, another compelling urge overcame him, this time to fight it directly. This was completely at odds with his training, which told him that stealth was his greatest weapon. He still could not comprehend what he was feeling at the time, but was unable to go against these desires. When his offensives were still proving ineffective, his better sense told him that he should disengage and retreat. Instead, he continued with what he considered foolhardy frontal attacks, perhaps thinking that charging it enough times would reveal a weakness he could exploit. When the Titans arrived on the scene, his instincts told him to flee the scene. Instead, he lingered behind to observe the Titans actions, and was badly distracted and nearly caught for his troubles. The only positive thing about the entire encounter was that he remembered to retrieve his discarded articles.

His earlier behavior still completely baffled Will. Wanting to fight and wanting to win: these feelings were completely alien to the young man. As an agent, he had always completed his missions to the "T", always putting forth one hundred percent of his effort, no matter what the situation. Even when he exceeded expectations, it was not because he put in more effort than usual: it was because he never put forth less effort than usual. He had heard some of his fellow agents mention the phrase "giving one hundred and _ten_ percent", though he never understand what they meant by that.

As he approached his van, an explosion ripped across the road he had just cleared.

_**BOOOOM!**_

Wary, he landed on the roof of the building that the explosion had originated from: S.T.A.R. Labs J.C. As Will looked down from his perch, he spied a man strutting out of the burning hole that was once the main entrance to the building. By Will's estimation, he stood roughly seventy-two inches tall, and had dark skin with black facial hair on his gaunt chin. His garb was what caught the former soldier's attention, though. The man was dressed in a black jumpsuit, with various mechanical devices on his body, all of them white. Oversized gauntlets and bulky torso armor were the most prominent of these devices, while the emblem resembling a light bulb adorning his chest only added to the overall bright appearance. A headdress with a prominent white fin completed the image.

"Ha-HAA! The brilliance of Doctor Light shines forth once more!"

When he was an agent, Will's comrades often remarked on his uncanny ability to maintain his poker face. This strange man's single sentence put that ability to the test, and Will came dangerously close to cringing. Fortunately, for his own peace of mind, he caught himself and settled for a frown. As he continued spying on Doctor Light (Sc. D.), he noticed that the man was admiring a small device he held in his hand, though it was completely unrecognizable to Will. He did not intend to intervene, but this Dr. Light had other ideas.

_**ZAAP! BOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

The oddly dressed man blasted a gaping hole in the surrounding security gate with a yellow beam of energy, which continued on its path and blew the supports of a nearby parking garage to bits. Tens of millions of dollars in private transportation and excessive customization collapsed to the ground in a very shiny heap. Screams could be heard as nearby residents were violently awoken from their slumber. Once again, Will felt the strange impulse to fight, dogging him to beat the thin man into submission. Somewhat exasperated with himself, he decided to obey this impulse. '_Perhaps,'_ he reasoned, _'I will come to understand why I felt them in the first place.'_

Will dropped to the ground and landed behind Doctor Light with all the sound of a feather. As he reached for the box-shaped device in the doctor's hand, the flames lingering on the remains of the front entrance flickered, casting an unexpected shadow on the ground. Still looking down at the object in his hands, Dr. Light noticed the shadow below him. He whipped around and fired a palm laser in a sweeping motion, startled at the apparent proximity of an enemy.

_**ZAAAAP!**_

Will ducked the blast and leapt several meters away, perching on top of a truck-sized hunk of rubble. Doctor Light narrowed his eyes, contemplating his unknown assailant.

"Hm. It appears as if the Teen Titans are finally taking me seriously." He tucked the unidentified device away in a belt compartment. "Sending one of their new pawns to scout my abilities after our last encounter was an unusually bright idea."

Will stared, gauging Light's stance and speech patterns. "I'm not a Teen Titan."

"Is that so? No matter, your intentions are clear as day!" Without warning, Doctor Light raised his hands and fired an innumerable amount of pebble-sized balls of energy at Will.

_**T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-TEW! B-B-B-B-B-B-BOOM!**_

Explosions of light and heat blanketed the area, throwing concrete, rock, and rubble into the air. When the cloud finally wafted away, Dr. Light advanced on the former pedestal his opponent had been standing on, hands still raised. All he found was a green military jacket, riddled with smoldering holes. The good doctor's face adopted a smug expression. "Hmph! I was expecting more of a challenge! What a dim showing!"

_**SWOOOSH!**_

The large chunk of building the jacket had been lying on suddenly launched itself at Dr. Light. Sidestepping frantically out of the way, Dr. Light directed his palms towards the spot it had been occupying, only to find it empty.

_**WHAM!**_

"OOF!" A gloved fist slammed into the side of his ribcage, denting the white armor protecting his body.

_**F-FWUMP!**_

Dr. Light tumbled to the ground, completely blind-sided by Will's attack. As Light rolled to the side, awkwardly regaining his feet, Will rubbed his knuckles to sooth the negligible pain. If he was right, the armor was aluminum: hard enough to protect Light from a level of superhuman strength, but light enough for him to move freely. Will studied the good doctor's expression, reasoning that he was not much of a physical combatant from the mixture of pain and surprise he wore.

"You clung to the back of the flying debris for cover...how clever." Dr. Light, attempting to covertly put some distance between himself and his opponent, speculated to the both of them.

Will's relaxed stance almost gave off an aura of boredom, if not for the purposeful manner in which he tracked Light's position. "It's a simple tactic that only works on poor combatants."

Light grimaced at the veiled insult. "I see that you possess a sparkling wit, but you won't be seeing me!"

Without warning, Dr. Light disappeared from Will's sight. The young soldier lowered and tightened his stance, looking for a sign of his opponent.

'_Invisible.' _Will's eyes darted to a specific point. _'Left!'_

Will reached out to his side and firmly grasped some unseen mass, a mass that emitted a surprised gasp. He sharply twisted his body 180 degrees, dragging his arm up as he turned. The invisible grunted as Will easily swung it over his head, viciously slamming it down onto the concrete.

_**WHAM!**_

"Ugh!" Dr. Light flickered into the visible spectrum as his state-of-the-art suit momentarily lost power. Will studied the man, trying to identify any other weapons and abilities the suit might have, based on his experience with high-tech weapon systems and common knowledge of the properties of light. He advanced on Dr. Light, towering over the man's flimsy, coughing form.

"You're good...I'll give you that," Dr. Light conceded, still attempting to regain his breath. He managed to right himself into a sitting position, leaning back from his opponent. "But you can't outshine me so easily!"

_**ZAAAAAP!**_

A lance of yellow energy blasted out of his light bulb emblem, ploughing into Will's chest and carrying him back across the street. "Gkk!"

_**SHATTEEEERRR!**_

As his adversary crashed through a storefront window, Dr. Light dragged himself upright, still smarting from the blow to the ribs. Satisfied that he had sufficiently dealt with his foe, Light turned to make his escape. "Not very bright, that one! It's no wonder he's not a Teen Titan!"

_Fwip-Fwip! __**SKRK!**_

A pair of screwdrivers buried themselves in Dr. Light's oversized gauntlets. Sparks flew freely as the supervillian tripped and fell in his surprise. He looked back in the direction of ruined hardware store to see Will standing in the windowsill, arms still extended in a throwing motion. The Nomex shirt he had worn under the jacket now had a large, smoldering hole in the chest area. The skin underneath was an angry red, but thankfully devoid of any major burns. Still, it was rather painful.

Dr. Light rose to his feet, glaring at a panting Will and aiming a fist in the faux vigilante's direction.

_**Z-ZZT! FZZ**__ZZ-zzt!_

Light regarded his screwdrivered gauntlet with bewilderment as it sparked and sputtered uselessly, then scowled at Will's grimacing face. "You damaged my suit! I'll make you pay for that!"

_**ZAAAAAP!**_

The cannon on his chest was intact, much to Will's chagrin. Fortunately, he anticipated it this time and jerked his torso to the side. _**POOOW!**_ Bob Vila® tools flew everywhere as the blast destroyed a tool rack. Will snatched a hammer out of the air and threw it as hard as he could, intent on further reducing Dr. Light's firepower.

_**ZZZT!**_

A barrier of translucent yellow erected itself in the hammer's path, easily stopping the makeshift projectile. Once again forced into the direct approach by his own brain, Will advanced upon the doctor, quickly closing the distance with long, low leaps. Dr. Light released a button on his belt, allowing the force field to dissipate as he pulled out a handful of metal cartridges. _Swii-iiish!_ A hearty throw on his part sent them on a collision course with the rapidly approaching Will.

_**P-P-P-P-P-POW!**_

The small weapons exploded rather impressively for their size, no doubt aided by the doctor's namesake. Will vaulted over the explosions, his trajectory taking him nearly ten meters into the air and then straight down at his opponent. Unfortunately, Dr. Light had extracted a disk-shaped device from behind his back and dropped it at his feet while Will was busy avoiding the light grenades.

_SHEEN!_

A spherical cage of light suddenly enveloped Will. His attempts to thrash his way out of the prison were soundlessly absorbed. Dr. Light's voice filtered through the inverse force field, though the brightness of the field itself prevented Will from seeing the enlightened doctor.

"Nigh unbreakable, completely obstructs the prisoner's vision without obstructing sound, and no way for the captive to interfere with the emitter: ingenious, if I do say so myself." Dr. Light's infinitely smug voiced drifted across Will's unwelcoming eardrums. "As scintillating as this little scuffle of ours was, it might be best if I dealt with you now. All I have to do is increase the power output and you'll light up like-"

_**WHACK!**_

'_What?'_

"Oof!" Light grunted.

A vaguely familiar voice cut in. "Mind enlightening me on what you're doing, Dr. Light?"

"Ahh, the ever-ardent Robin!"

Will renewed his struggles to free himself.

"As illuminating as banter with you might be, you'll forgive me for taking my leave. I'll leave you a dazzling gift in exchange!"

_**FLASH!**_

"Augh! ...A petty light show won't be-!...enough?"

'_He escaped. Now, how am _I_ to escape _this_?'_

"That's how he got away last time..."

Will heard Robin pacing around, most likely looking for footprints. Will knew, just as Robin had to, that such an easy trail could not exist.

"Looks like it's just the two of us."

Some small part of Will had hoped that the Boy Wonder would focus so much on tracking Dr. Light that he would forget the young man trapped in the ball of light.

"........"

"I've been following you in the news, you know, but second- and third-hand accounts only go so far. What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Will did not answer.

Robin began circling the bright yellow cage.

"Not very talkative, are you? Alright, we'll start easy: what's your name?"

"..........Will."

"Full name."

Will's eyes narrowed behind his one-way screen.

"Fine. Where did you come from?"

"Will you release me if I answer?"

"No, you're planning to run as soon as you're free."

Will sighed resignedly. "I am a former secret soldier of the United States military."

"Care to elaborate?"

"I was often deployed for black ops."

"Why aren't you with the military anymore? Why are you running from them?"

"I never-"

Robin stopped orbiting Will. "You said you were a _former_ soldier. Not to mention the fact that, every time you visit any given city, a military convoy shows up roughly a week later, fully combat equipped. You're deliberately leading them on. Why?"

"....I have no desire to answer that."

Robin was undeterred. "Alright, what powers do you have?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I can see you, but you can't see me. Even so, you've been perfectly tracking my movements this whole time. No human ears are that precise, which means that you have some sort of superhuman senses. Cyborg also caught you on tape making a jump that would make Mike Powell have a nervous breakdown."

Will grimaced at his own indiscretion, his eyes flicking away from Robin's position. "...gravity. I am able to manipulate and sense gravity."

"...You can sense the mass that causes gravity, or the curvature of space-time?" Based on the slight pause, Will assumed that Robin was somewhat taken aback by his admission.

Will squinted his eyes against the glare. "I...believe it is both."

"How do you manipulate gravity?" Robin pressed on. "Through what means?"

"It appears to be a natural mutation."

"And what can you do with it?"

Will placed a hand over his eyes to protect them from the bright light surrounding him. He was starting to see spots. "I can alter the direction and strength of gravity, though my range is somewhat limited."

"Explain the damage you caused to Dr. Light's suit."

"I...also possess a small amount of superhuman strength, due to an experimental performance enhancer."

"How much is a small amount?"

Will lifted his left shoulder in a half-hearted attempt to shrug. "My maximum lifting capacity without altering gravity is roughly one thousand kilograms."

Robin paused his questioning for a moment.

"......Anything else you'd like to add?"

Will did not answer.

"On to the important question," Robin's tone took a more serious turn. "Is it safe for me to release you? Are you going to cause this city trouble?"

Will faced Robin's direction once again. "You have no reason to fear me." Will's voice did not waver.

Will felt Robin staring at him. Scrutinizing him. Judging him.

"...Let me find the control panel."

"That will not be necessary."

_**C**__**RUMP!**_

The photon-emitting device spontaneously collapsed in on itself, crushed by an unseen force. Naturally, the force field flickered out of existence, releasing Will of his own accord. He landed in a crouch with his head bowed, blinking his eyes repeatedly to clear his vision.

"You could have escaped anytime." Robin observed.

"No," Will's blinking started slowing down, "the effort necessary to increase the weight of such a light but durable object would have left me momentarily vulnerable at a point when you were suspicious of me."

"I'm _still_ suspicious of you, but I also don't think you're lying."

Finally able to see again, Will lifted his head and beheld Robin, the Boy Wonder. The former protégé of Batman lurked in the half-shadowed remains of the security gate, blocking the potential exit. One boot was planted slightly ahead of the other, preventing him from being caught flat-footed. The former vigilante somehow managed to appear as solid as the concrete wall behind him and as fluid as the shadows that danced around the lingering flames. As a newcomer to the trade of visual intimidation, Will could not help but take notes. Once he rose to his full height, Will realized that the leader of the Teen Titans had grown since the last report he had read. Robin stood a full five inches taller than Will's height of sixty-five. He also noted that, at his supposed age, Robin was likely to grow several more inches, while Will would more than likely stand at his current height for the rest of his life. This did not chagrin him at all. Not one bit.

Really.

Will voiced the obvious question. "Then you're going to let me go?"

"I'm going to keep an eye on you." Robin corrected.

Robin tossed a small object to Will, who deftly snatched it out of the air and examined it. It was the size and shape of a pen, but was made of stainless steel. "What is this?"

"A GPS transmitter."

Will's eyes snapped back up to stare at Robin, surprised at the Boy Wonder's bluntness.

"It's also a one-way communicator," Will returned his attention to the device. "If you run across an emergency while you're in town, twist the cap off, press the button, and talk. We'll come to you."

Will brow furrowed. "I wasn't planning on staying."

"I thought not," Robin smirked. "Still, there's a chance that you'll see the light."

Will's nose wrinkled in a half-scowl. "We'll see."

With that, Will launched himself into the air, guiding himself onto a rooftop several blocks away.

_**SWOOOSH!**_

Robin watched him flee, statuesque in his posture.

His cape flapped lazily in the wind as emergency response vehicles belatedly arrived to deal with the parking garage and specialists bustled over to the shattered S.T.A.R. Labs facility.

"Well?"

A voice answered him from behind. "Got it. You think I was far enough away?"

Robin turned to face Cyborg as he approached from the street. "He never gave any indication that his senses picked you up."

The android scratched the fleshy side of his head. "'Course, he might have noticed me and kept it a secret."

"The unfortunate possibility." Robin conceded.

"So," Cyborg crossed his massive arms over his equally massive chest, "is your Birdie-Sense tingling, or do you think we can trust him?"

Robin took a long, slow breath. "It's difficult to tell. He admitted to being former black ops, which could mean any number things. The fact that he's being hunted by the military means he could either be dangerous, or a national secret. His hesitation to answer questions raises even more questions..."

Cyborg quirked an eyebrow at his leader. "But?"

"...but, the fact that he made catching criminals his MO means that he isn't indifferent. He could have chosen to commit crimes instead. It would arguably have been easier to draw attention that way, but he chose to stop crime. I don't believe that was a coincidence. I think, with the proper guidance, he might just be hero material."

The Titanium Titan smiled and planted his hands on his hips. "Yeah, I got the same vibe. Only...not in so many words."

"Good, that means I'm not generalizing after our large-scale induction recently." Robin cocked his head towards Cyborg, smirking at his friend. "So, are you going to have time to repair the T-Car if you're busy building Beast Boy a moped?"

Cyborg visibly deflated. "Aw man, don't remind me..."

Robin pressed on. "About the T-Car, or the 'B-Ped'?"

"Both." Cyborg winced at his own admission.

_**

* * *

**_

Will fumbled with the door locks of his van, though he was distracted from the task at hand by his own thoughts.

_C-click. Skritch._

'_I still don't understand what is wrong with me. Why, when faced with a "supervillian," do I feel compelled to fight?'_

_Click-thunk._

Will managed to undo the conventional lock. Next was the keypad.

'_Why have I stayed here this long? I should have left as soon as I retreated from the battle in the slums.'_

_B-beep-beep-beep._

Nothing happened.

'_Why did I allow Robin's accomplice to remain "undetected"?'_

_B-beep-beep-beep._

Nothing happened. Will's brow furrowed.

'_Why did I stay after I freed myself?'_

_B-beep-beep-beep._

Disappointingly, the sound of a lock being electronically unfastened did not manifest in Will's ears.

_Clang._

Will lightly rapped on the door, frowned.

'_Why is this lock not working?'_

_B-beep-beep..._

Will retrieved the small GPS/communicator from one of his pockets and stared loosely at it.

'_Why can't I throw this away? Do I not want to?'_

_...Beep. C-click._

The door finally unlocked. Will stared at it for a few moments before entering, intent on sleep.

'_I suppose I'll stay a few more days.'_

_**

* * *

**_

Author's Note: I'm so bad. Saying I'd have a chapter within a week and then taking nearly four weeks. For those of you kind enough to read this work, I have no excuse.

On the bright side, I've recently discovered _Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion._ Freaking awesome. Not as awesome as _Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann,_ but awesome. Lelouch is the definition of the Magnificent Bastard character type. I'm not sure if he's a better Magnificent Bastard than Hiruma of _Eyeshield 21_, considering that they do their Bastarding in completely different environments, but if he's not then he's pretty damn close. If you don't know what a Magnificent Bastard is, head to TV Tropes (dot) org. Great reference site for fans of any series/movie/whatever. It's easier and more coherent than any explanation I might give. Plus, I bore myself to tears when I have to explain stuff.

Also, YAY! These Black Eyes is back! Thank you so much, spaceisawaste (Post's new moniker)! Two hundred and seventy chapters of awesome! Though, it's not all re-uploaded yet, which is understandable. S/He (?) has a life after all, I wouldn't expect him to spend 72 hours straight just uploading his massive story. On the (severe) off chance that you read this story Post, I would like to thank you for forcing me to read your story rather than study back in fall of '07, when I first discovered it. I have never felt more satisfied while risking my GPA. Your story, which you yourself believe is an Epic Gary Stu Train Wreck, inspired me to write this story. I had already made up the major original characters back around Easter, but I wasn't inspired to seriously plan out the story and flesh out the characters until I read These Black Eyes. In fact, without These Black Eyes, I might never have considered actually writing fan fiction. Oh, I had lurked around the site for over a year, but I never even thought of actually writing. Thank you.

To those who are willing to put up with my wonky attention span and work ethic, nothing would make me happier than to read a few reviews telling me what's good and what's not good. Well, except sex, but I'm perpetually single and I doubt I have the good fortune of Hot Female Readers Who Live Nearby. So, help me realize that my life is worth something and leave constructive criticism. Until next time! _Ja ne!_ (I'm such a Geek.)


	6. Chapter 6: Into the Light 2

Ch. 6: Into the Light 2

Sunrise. Bright, shining sunrise. The first rays of light peaking over the horizon that announced the new day. The warmth that radiated from the star at the center of the Solar System. The inspiration for countless songs and poems.

Will did not really like sunrise. Sunrise meant that the cover of darkness would fully retreat. Sunrise meant that people would be waking up, diurnal as humans were. Sunrise usually meant it was time for him to retreat to a safe house or other hiding place until the night returned. In the worst-case scenario, sunrise meant that he had failed to complete his objectives. Failing his mission meant that someone other than his target died, be they evil or innocent.

Sunrise also meant that unforgiving photons would stab through his eyelids into pupils that were far more accustomed to the dark. Right now, Will did not want to think about light of any kind, natural or synthetic. Light was the reason the Teen Titans had managed to confront him. Light was the reason he was feeling something vaguely similar to descriptions of what some of his comrades had called "spite".

Light was also the reason burning pain ripped across his chest when he stretched his arm behind the passenger seat. Holding a grimace, he continued the motion and flicked a switch, powering up the communications suite.

Soldiering through the sensation, Will retrieved his arm and pulled the lever to raise the driver's seat into an upright position. Waiting for the system to boot up, he opened the all-purpose medical kit and extracted a role a bandages and a jar of medicinal salve. After removing the dressing he had put in place four hours ago, he reapplied the salve and a new set of bandages. Still wincing somewhat, he turned to the keyboard that awaited his input. A few keystrokes brought a myriad of live news to the screens above him, which he scanned intently.

A story running on the JCN morning news caught his attention.

_**

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**_

"—_itnesses report that the infamous Dr. Light was spotted fleeing from an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs at approximately 2:40 a.m. before Teen Titans Robin and Cyborg arrived on the scene." A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and wearing a somewhat casual pantsuit stood in front of a screen, which showed intermittent images of the ruined entrance to S.T.A.R. Labs. "As of this moment, S.T.A.R. Labs has not released a public statement. However, one emergency worker reports the presence of an unknown metahuman at the scene. Reporter Tristan Graves has the story. Tristan?"_

"_That's right, Joanne." A dark-skinned man with well-groomed black hair appeared on the screen, standing next to a large, grizzled man in front of a fire station. "I'm here with Todd Burge, a Jump City veteran firefighter who was one of the first emergency response workers on the scene early this morning. Todd, could you describe this mystery man for us?"_

"_Sure can. Guy was wearing those green military clothes. Y'know, fatigues? So, I was thinkin' he was a soldier or something, 'cept he was kinda short." Todd raised a hand to level with his shoulders. "Kinda like Beast Kid-"_

"_-Beast Boy-"_

"_-Beast Boy is now. Looked Irish too, red hair and really pale skin."_

"_Can you tell what happened?"_

"_Well, when my squad got there, Robin was talkin' to this big yellow bubble, Little Miss Sunshine's cage thing." Todd gestured vaguely in the air. "Well, then the machine just breaks, and this new guy falls out of it. Robin gave him somethin', then he jumped away."_

"_Jumped away?" Tristan turned to camera momentarily, raising his eyebrows dramatically for emphasis, then turned back to his interviewee. "Can you elaborate?"_

"_He just jumped all the way from the lab to the roof of an apartment building two blocks away." Todd illustrated what he was describing with his hands, drawing a long, curved line in the air. "Like a kangaroo on steroids."_

"_Is there anything else that you'd like to add?"_

_Todd's brow furrowed in consternation. "Yeah, what are all those kids doin' up so late at night? When I was their age, if I was'n in bed by ten, my parents wouldn'a let me outta the house fer a week. Prolly goin' to their night clubs and knockin' up little gir-"_

_The feed abruptly switched back to the main newsroom, where Joanne picked up with an almost hideously bright smile. "And there you have it: there's a new metahuman in town and the Titans are recruiting. More on this story at ten. In other news, last night Mayor Green signed-"_

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**_

Will frowned at what he had just heard. Making the news as a potential Teen Titan was not what he had in mind at all. The response would be far too quick. Not to mention that it had been a firefighter who spotted him, rather than some bum. Firefighters, he had learned, were generally very well respected among civilians. For an eyewitness to have been a civil servant made it all the more credible a report. Will sighed as an unfamiliar feeling of fatigue swept through him.

Moreover, another person had called him short. It had happened at least once in every city he had visited so far, and obviously did not show any sign of stopping. He had not given much notice to his height before, aside from the occasional jab from Ben or Ethan. Now, however, it was being pointed out at every turn, and it was fast wearing at what he had once thought were implacable nerves.

'_I am growing tired of these complications.' _Will rambled to himself as he opened an MRE on autopilot. _'I leave this city tonight.'_

_**

* * *

**_

"Hhhnnnnhaagghghg...huuuuu...."

The room was an absolute, unqualified mess.

"Hhhnnnhaagghghghg...huuuuuu..."

Well-worn clothes, moldy food, and other objects of ambiguous nature sprawled across the floor.

"Hhhnnnhaagh-snkkkahhkt!.................huuuuuu..."

Sheets of an unidentified color bundled into a man-sized lump on the upper mattress of a bunk bed.

"Hhnnhaaagghhh...huuu-"

A shrill beeping flooded the over-packed room.

"Nyaaah!"

The mass of linen spasmed off the bed and crashed to the floor in a heap, as bright tones continued to sound.

After several more seconds of convulsing, a head of ruffled green hair poked out from under the sheets. Attached to the hair were a face with green skin, a pair of green eyes, pointed green ears, and one pearly-white fang protruding straight up from a set of lax jaws. Droopy emerald eyes sluggishly tracked up towards the incessantly beeping alarm clock on a dresser.

One furry crunch later and there _was_ no alarm clock.

"Ugh...why did I set the alarm? What time is it?" Beast Boy mumbled.

Beast Boy looked around expectantly for another clock, but flopped back down to the floor when his search yielded no results.

".......................................................Hhnnhaaahghg......huu-"

A siren blared in time with an all-encompassing red light.

"Duu-_uuude_!" Beast Boy shrieked.

The intercom crackled to life. _"Snkkt-Titans, I've got a few things to show you. Come down to the Main Room immediately."_

Beast Boy squinted for a moment before shrugging and lowering himself back down to the oh-so-comfortable floor. "Eh, I'm sure it can wait."

"_That means you Beast Boy-"_

Beast Boy jack-knifed into a sitting position. "Dude, are you listening in on me?!"

"_-and no, I'm not listening in on you. Get down here. Now."_

Beast Boy's eyes widened in stunned silence, and then narrowed in a petulant, way-too-early-in-the-morning-for-this scowl. "Fine! I'm coming!"

"_I knew you'd see things my way."_

The Emerald Titan could _hear_ the self-satisfied smirk on his leader's face.

_**

* * *

**_

"Azarath...Metrion......Zinthos."

Raven brought herself out of her morning meditation, refastened her robe around her shoulders, and glided down the stairwell on the roof.

_**

* * *

**_

"...save under _/Yi_...and...done."

Cyborg finished typing at his personal desktop and strode out of his computer lab at a brisk pace.

_**

* * *

**_

"Grglgrel!"

A large, pink and yellow maggot sputtered and gurgled in its high chair as a tall, orange-skinned girl gently squeezed it in a maternal embrace. A rather large pile of electronic devices and green stuffed animals occupied a corner of the room.

"Now my little _bumgorf_, your _k'norfka_ must present herself at a meeting, but I promise to return as soon as my duties as a Teen Titan are completed. Farewell!"

With one final nuzzle, Starfire released Silkie from her motherly hug and floated out the door.

_**

* * *

**_

Robin was in the process of connecting his fire engine-red laptop to the Titans Main Computer when his teammates filed into the Main Room as a group. Robin noted that Beast Boy was still half-asleep, given the odd swaying motion to his gait and the droopy eyelids. If his guess was correct, and they usually were, the youngest Titan had also neglected to take a shower, if the mussed hair and the way Raven not so discretely wrinkled her nose when as she drifted behind him were any indication. He really needed to do something about Beast Boy staying up until the dead of night to read comics by flashlight.

"Glad you could join us Beast Boy." Even Starfire caught the sarcasm in his voice.

Beast Boy just waved a hand and grunted in response, though in truth, Robin was not even paying attention. Rather, he had taken to moment to study Starfire's perpetually exposed midriff for signs of last night's injury. Fighting his hormones tooth-and-nail for control, the Boy Wonder's scrutiny revealed nothing but a section of slightly darker skin: a welcome change from angry red, to be sure.

Taking advantage of his concealing mask, Robin turned his head in Cyborg's direction while keeping his eyes fixed on the remnants of his best friend's most recent injury. "Cyborg, do you have those analyses I asked you for earlier?"

The massive Titan lifted his left arm, where a CD popped out of an inconspicuous slot. "Right here."

"Thanks." Robin accepted the disc, though he did not make immediate use of it. Instead, he picked up the remote lying next to his laptop. "Now, the reason I asked you all down here in such a hurry is this report that's about to run on the JCN."

In a click, the big screen came to life.

_**

* * *

**_

"_Good morning and welcome back from the break. I'm Joanne Leeman and this is the Ten o' Clock News." Joanne smiled brightly at the camera. "Our top story today is an unidentified metahuman that has made an appearance in Jump City, participating in the fight against crime alongside the Teen Titans. The recent recruiting drive during the Titans worldwide battle against the Brotherhood of Evil speaks of the possibility of a new recruit. However, one eyewitness claims otherwise." _

_The mug shot of a scraggly man with his arm in a sling filled the screen. _

"_Brendan Hoops was dropped into police custody early this morning after he sexually assaulted a young woman he met at a bar, who asked to remain anonymous. According to his own testimony, the testimony of the woman he accosted, and the police officer who arrested him, the young metahuman interrupted Hoops before he was able to remove any of the victim's clothing. After easily leaping across several rooftops, the young man then landed and stood on the __**side**__ of a building while he interrogated Hoops. Though he did not offer a name, Hoops claims that the metahuman specifically stated that he has no affiliation with the Teen Titans. Hoops also mentioned that, while the young man was standing parallel to the ground, the normal laws of gravity still applied to Hoops, resulting in what must have been a very disturbing sense of vertigo." _

"_Shortly after this incident, it appears that the young man, whom we shall call Vertigo for now, engaged in battle with the infamous Dr. Light in front of the Jump City branch of S.T.A.R. Labs." A crisp photograph of villainous professor in action came into view. "Earlier this morning, Action News Reporter Tristan Graves spoke with an eyewitness who described interactions between Robin of the Teen Titans and Vertigo, illustrating what experts have dubbed a truce, rather than an alliance. Some eyewitnesses have even repor-"_

_**

* * *

**_

Dulcet tones pinged from the ceiling, and the Titans tensed as one at the unfamiliar sound.

"Is it a high-priority call?" Raven opened her communicator, frowning when the display told her nothing about the odd chiming.

"Are we under attack?!" Robin dashed to the Crime Scanner, inputting commands before he even came to a complete stop.

"_Are we about to be frozen in time forever?!"_ Beast Boy collapsed to the floor in hysterics.

"_**Have my zorka berries begun multiplying?!?" **_Starfire licked her lips in anticipation.

"...Um, guys?" Cyborg lifted a finger into the air. "That's the doorbell."

A bewildered beat of silence reined; only interrupted by a repeat of the chimes and a squeaky voice drifting up from a ball of mismatched colors on the floor.

"...We have a doorbell?"

Cyborg sighed in defeat before heading for the elevator. "I guess I'll get it."

As Cyborg disappeared into the lift, Robin returned to his place in front of the gigantic flat-screen. He looked somewhat embarrassed at his misinterpretation, given the way he tugged at his collar as his teammates waited for him to talk. "Anyway, as that news report was saying, we have an unidentified player out there on the streets. I was able to have a short conversation with him before he left S.T.A.R. Labs, with Cyborg recording from a distance."

Robin swiveled to his laptop and typed, data streaming across the Ethernet cables and onto the big screen. "This is what Cyborg got on tape."

A video of Dr. Light approaching a floating sphere of canary-yellow occupied the massive monitor, obviously the product of their large teammate's electronic eye. _"-have to do is increase the power output and you'll light up like-"_

Digital Robin soared in with his ubiquitous flying sidekick, knocking the villain ass-over-teacups. _"Oof!"_

The real Robin spoke up as his digital self struck a pose and made a pun. "Cyborg and I arrived on the scene at 2:43 a.m., shortly after Dr. Light managed to capture the other metahuman in his light cage."

Starfire's eyes narrowed in suspicion as a bright flash of yellow illuminated the screen. "Robin, have you not informed me that remaining awake at such a late hour is detrimental to one's health?"

Robin's domino mask widened in alarm. His hands waved frantically in front of him, as if trying to ward off an attack. "Uh- no! I wasn't awake! I got a low-priority distress call, so I didn't bother waking anyone! Cyborg just happened to be up getting a snack!"

Starfire's gaze burned into her friend for a second or two more before returning to the screen, where the digital Robin inspected the surroundings after Dr. Light's disappearing act. The real Robin breathed freely again as he pointed to the screen.

"Ahem. As you can see, Dr. Light escaped the same way as before, when the entire team managed to corner him. He emits a high-intensity pulse of visible light to distract us, then turns invisible and escapes while we're blinded." A read-out of various sensors popped up on the screen as Cyborg's assorted scanners attempted to locate the supervillian, all revealing results in the negative. "It turns out that he is also somehow masking his heat signature, so Cyborg is in the middle of trying to come up with a sensor for photon disturbances."

Raven's quiet voice broke in. "Any reason Beast Boy couldn't sniff him out?"

She jerked a thumb at the teenager for emphasis. Beast Boy instantly shifted his state of existence from drowsy to distasteful. "I tried last time, but his scent trail was covered up by this nasty burning smell. Made my nose itch for days. Blech!"

Robin nodded succinctly. "We've known that Dr. Light's suit manipulates electromagnetic fields to control light, so it only makes sense that the continuous manipulation of photons necessary would produce a great deal more ozone than usual. Does that answer your question?"

Raven gave the barest of nods. "Perfectly."

"Good," Robin said. "Now, while Cyborg is working on a tracker for Light, we have a few other things to take care of. Namely, this metahuman that has entered our city."

The Titans once again directed their attention to the screen as digital Robin approaching the floating bubble. The Starfire and Raven listened intently to the exchange for a few moments. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was already listing to the side in exhaustion, looking like something out a zombie apocalypse movie. A bad zombie apocalypse movie.

"Gravity? That's different..." Raven lifted an eyebrow.

"Fascinating..." Starfire intoned.

By this point, Beast Boy had wilted to the floor, intent on squeezing in Just-A-Few-More-Minutes.

Robin just stared resolutely at the screen. "Just watch what he does with it."

Even Raven's eyes widened, however minutely, with interest as the light-generating device imploded, seemingly of its own volition.

Eventually, the recording ended, in the middle of Robin and Cyborg coordinating with the police that arrived on the scene.

"So, we don't know what Light took?" Raven questioned.

Robin shook his head curtly. "No, they're being pretty tight-lipped about it, which is a bit unusual for S.T.A.R. Which brings me to-"

"_Snkkt-Hey Rob, we got company!" _Cyborg's voice broke over the conversation.

Robin deftly retrieved his communicator, flipping it open as he trekked to the main computer. "What's going on?"

"_Look at the feed from the security cams: Front Entrance."_

When the Boy Wonder complied, men and women in suits and tasteful skirts took up the entire screen. Some other men, more casually garbed, hefted cameras on their shoulders or boom mikes in their hands. All of them were trying to shove themselves to the forefront, shouting about topics ranging from "the new Titan" to "secret love nest." Robin slapped a gloved hand over his face.

"Reporters..."

"The scourge of the modern world." Raven remarked.

An exasperated Robin turned back to his team. "Alright, new plan: someone's going to have to deal with the media, and Cyborg has too much on his plate right now-"

Beast Boy revived instantly, jumping frantically in place and waving his hands over his head. "Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me!"

Robin ploughed right over Beast Boy's enthusiasm. "I'll deal with them."

"Rats!"

"Beast Boy, I want you and Starfire to head to S.T.A.R. Labs and try to find out what was stolen." The Boy Wonder turned to regard his alien teammate.

Starfire nodded. "What are we to do if they are not forthcoming?"

Robin glanced at the shorter male in the room. "Beast Boy can fit into air ducts, can't he?"

The Emerald Titan beamed as he rolled up imaginary sleeves. "Like a tofu dog in a bun."

"What about me?" Raven's drawled. "Do I get to do anything exciting?"

"You," Robin pointed at the dark girl, "get to supervise the upgrades to the Omega Wing."

"...Super."

_**

* * *

**_

Suspiciously repetitive clanks and grunts filled the enclosure, before a final click heralded the end of the serenade.

"Good." Will massaged the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, pleased at the completion of his objective. His muscles twitched slightly as his chest burned for a moment. Thanks to his enhanced physical capabilities and a rapidly dwindling supply of advanced medicinal salve, the wound on his torso was already beginning to fade, now merely red rather than angry red.

'_A week's time should be sufficient.'_

Returning the needle nose pliers he had been holding to the small toolbox at his side, Will snapped the casing to the machine he had spent the last several hours repairing shut. Well, more like fumbling through repairs and breaking a few things on accident, but no one was keeping score. After pouring the necessary fluids into the appropriate ports, he hit a button to initiate a test sequence and the appliance whirred to life.

As he waited for the machine to finish, Will turned to a man-sized locker, opening it with nary a squeak_._

Inside was a small collection of firearms, the most prominent of which were three types of handguns and a FN F2000 assault rifle. The rifle had not seen any action in months and was still spotless after a recent cleaning. The M9 pistol, however, needed some maintenance. Will removed it from its place and deftly stripped it down.

'_...Eleven rounds fired last night...and...the barrel is warped due to a blow from the android...'_

As he refilled the magazine and replaced the barrel of the handgun, Will heard a soft beep from the machine he had just repaired, indicating a completed task. Once he reassembled the M9 and replaced it in the locker, he returned to the counter and removed a small cylinder from the machine. Will attached an aerosol cap to the cylinder and sprayed it at his hair.

After several seconds of dousing his head with chemicals, Will lifted his eyes to a small mirror lying on the console to reveal a mess of jet-black hair attached to his scalp. No one seemed to remember the machine's official name, but one day Ethan had referred to it as "Disguise Ex Machina" and the name had stuck. As explained by his superiors, the compound manipulated the melanin in a human's body, though the details were long forgotten. As an added bonus, the pale skin that had caught some of the spray now appeared much darker, more akin to someone of Mediterranean heritage than Northern European.

Will removed his shirt and sprayed his torso and the rest of his exposed skin. Replacing his thick combat fatigues with track clothes, sneakers, and a ball cap, Will left the sanctuary of his vehicle. Under the shade of the hat's visor, his eyes appeared to be more of a dark blue than the usual violet.

'_It's been several days since I have run. Seven kilometers should be sufficient.'_

Just as Will turned to begin his jog, an orange and purple object streaked over the alley he was in, closely followed by a much smaller green blur. _'The Teen Titans.'_

He noted that they seemed to be heading directly towards the site where he had confronted Dr. Light. Concluding that they were not searching for him, Will turned again, set off at a brisk pace. However, he could not help but look back, unable to fully quell the itch lingering in a suppressed corner of his brain.

_**

* * *

**_

"Robin, is it true-"

"Robin, what-"

"Robin-"

"Robin-"

Reporters of all shapes and sizes clambered their way to the main entrance of Titans' Tower. After nearly a half an hour just trying to settle them down, they still showed no signs of relenting. One tall man nearly brained himself on a particularly low-hanging boom mike as he practically jumped over his competitors to question the Boy Wonder.

"Robin, Roy Traster from Jump City Times: Was there really an unknown crime fighter early this morning in front of S.T.A.R. Labs?"

Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, was the picture of calm in the face of ravenous journalists. "Yes, he fought Doctor Light when the villain attempted to escape with his prize."

"Did he give a name?"

Robin nodded. "He revealed his first name to me, but it is not my place to repeat it."

A short woman managed to shove her way to front. "Amelia Chung, Jump City Star: Is it true that Dr. Light managed to escape last night while clearly in plain sight?"

"Unfortunately," Robin conceded. "He seems to have developed a light-manipulating device that renders him totally invisible to all known forms of detection. Cyborg is attempting to come up with a countermeasure as we speak."

A shrill feminine voice rang out from the middle of the crowd. "Is it true that the explosion seen in the sky two months ago over Siberia was in fact Raven going through demonically-powered PMS?"

"She- wait, what?" Robin's defenses collapsed. The hyenas rallied behind the preemptive strike and pounced.

_**

* * *

**_

Steel-toed boots trudged into the Main Room, weary from an ordeal of world ending proportions. A gloved finger tapped a button on the computer console, firing up the powerful system. Rigorously trained lungs sucked in a calming breath, releasing the pent up frustration between loosely clenched teeth.

Robin hated reporters. Hate: to feel hostility or animosity toward. H-A-T-E. Hate. Got it? Good.

Oh, sure, they helped get news around. They told the general populace about whatever horrors happened to be afflicting the world on any given day. Sometimes, they were even informative.

'_The problem is that they're face-sucking leeches.'_ Robin reasoned.

As the Titans' mainframe came online, the Boy Wonder made his way to the kitchen, intent on relieving his stress through food. A ham sandwich sounded good: healthy, easy to prepare, and, most importantly of all, tasty. There was only one problem.

"Where _is_ the ham?" Fortunately, that indescribable blue mold had yet to manifest, but with all the half-eaten steaks and empty tofu containers stuffing the fridge, it was only a matter of time.

"I didn't realize just how much food we prepared last night." Robin mused, cupping his chin. After a moment's contemplation, his head tracked to the left, scanning his surroundings.

Nothing.

His head then swiveled to the right.

Still nothing.

Not fully trusting his eyes, he pulled a canary-yellow communicator from his utility belt. The push of a button activated the GPS tracking device inherit in their design.

Cyborg was the only other Titan in the building, and he was secluded in his lab; no doubt brainstorming a portable ozone detector. "Alright, here goes."

Food began to fly, conspicuously in the direction of the underused disposal bin.

Finally...

The Ham. Boar's Head, to be specific. Pristine and untouched. Perfect. "The sweet taste of victory."

Quickly retrieving the rest of his ingredients from the cupboards, the Titans' Leader made short work of the preparation, carefully setting the time for the microwave at four minutes on medium power. As he waited, he strode back to the computer, deftly maneuvering through file holders to find a small project of his. With a click of the mouse, a profile of the metahuman "Will" materialized on the screen. After skimming through the details to refresh his memory and adding a few notes along the way, another click opened a media player and loaded a video file. The encounter from last night, or early that morning, filled the display.

As the show was winding down, Robin noticed something he had not seen before. "...not quite out of nowhere..."

Just as he reached the end of the playing, the microwave pinged happily. Stomach rumbling in response, Robin bounded to kitchen, removing his meal from the microwave in a flourish. Eagerly anticipating a full stomach, the Boy Wonder slathered his sandwich with spices and sauces. Once he was satisfied with the result, he lifted the sandwich in two ungloved hands as it dripped exquisitely melted cheese. His mouth opened wide to receive its reward and...

The crime alert screamed to life. Freezing where he stood, his meal mere centimeters from his jaws, Robin's highly trained brain frantically weighed his options. Several seconds later found the Boy Wonder back in front of the computer, a scowl painting his features. His ham sandwich lay carefully on its plate, calling to him in a soft voice.

Keystrokes that were slightly too rough showed him the cause for the crime scanner's interruption: a bank robbery near the residential district. Fortunately, there were no recognized supervillains, just armed gunmen. Well, it was comparatively fortunate. There was no telling what unidentified crooks would do if something unexpected happened.

Wasting no time, Robin brought his communicator to his lips. "Titans, is anyone available for a bank robbery on Twenty-Third Avenue and Ninety-Seventh Street?"

"_Beast Boy to Robin, me and Star are still with the other S.T.A.R."_

"_This is Raven, I can make it, but it will take a few minutes."_

"_Any excuse to escape from the lab."_

"Alright," Robin said. "Cyborg and I will go now. Raven, come as soo- ...scratch those orders. I've already got confirmation that it's been taken care of on the police band. Stick with your current tasks. I'll go investigate. Robin out."

Jogging to the elevator, Robin stopped short as he remembered what he had been doing. A melancholic frown adorning his masked face, the leader of the Titans tenderly covered his sandwich with foil and placed it in a significantly roomier refrigerator.

Victory would have to wait.

_**

* * *

**_

The sights and sounds of welding filled the massive warehouse. Not an uncommon occurrence. However, said welding was not often accompanied by maniacal laughter and loud gloating.

"Ha-HAA! My plan is finally coming to fruition! In a matter of days, I will have acquired the materials to complete my new power source, and then the city will tremble at my magnificence!" A tall, dark man threw his hands up into the air as he paced the building feverishly. "The people will bow down to my glory, and the world shall be bathed in my brilliance! The brilliance of **Doctor Light**! HAA-Hahahahahaaa!"

A muted prayer floated towards the doctor's ears. "Oh Lord, if I should go deaf right here and now, I will never question you ever again."

Dr. Light rounded on the source, an older lab coated individual leaning over a workbench and holding a small rectangular device. The same one Light had stolen early that morning. "Is there some glaring facet of my speech that irritates you Professor Wilkins?!"

"No, no." Wilkins waved away his companion's accusations with the kind of nonchalance only a doctorate can bestow. "Your habit to constantly spout off "light" puns is endearing. One might even call it the brightest mark on your resume."

Doctor Light puffed his chest, intending to gloat on the remark, but stopped halfway and glared suspiciously at Wilkins. Wilkins only smiled congenially. Several men holding welding torches stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the spectacle.

"You should watch your tone Ian Wilkins, or else-" The professor cut him off with a stern look.

"Don't bother threatening me Light. The only reason I agreed to help you was to keep this baby intact." Ian wiggled the small device in his hand. "Besides being one of a kind, it's the product on an old student of mine. I can't have you fiddling with it and destroying the planet in your incompetence. He'd never forgive me."

Light leaned into the shorter man's face until his goatee tickled Ian' lips. "And what guarantee do I have that you won't sabotage my enlightened goals?"

Twitching his mouth in irritation, the older man leaned away from Dr. Light and replied. "I suppose you'll just have to trust me, won't you?"

Light glared at Wilkins for another moment, until finally relenting and whirling on the other occupants of the warehouse. _"Get back to work!"_

Welding once again brightened the building and Doctor Light resumed his pacing.

Also, speechmaking. "Indeed, I shall enlighten the world!"

"For the love of God, shut up. Idiot."

_**

* * *

**_

Author's Note: Holy crap. I'm updating. After five months. Sheesh. I didn't realize I took so long. To anyone who was anticipating the next chapter, I'm sorry for the delay. School sucks. Especially taking twelve accelerated credits all at once during this first half of summer. On top of ten to twenty hours of work per week, being in three different weekly ensembles, and trying to practice on my own at least two hours a day. Ugh. Fortunately, two of my four classes end next week, so I should have a lot more free time. Cross your fingers. Also, I had writer's block to a massive degree, but I just felt like bitching about my workload.

Heh, writing Dr. Light is fun. On a more important note, some of you may have noticed that there was no onomatopoeia in this chapter. To be honest, I was having too hard of a time coming up with the right sound effects. I like reading them, but I think that I'll refrain from writing them from now on. I think it also improved my writing a little bit, since it forced me to describe things in more detail, and I think dropping the effects helped me get a better handle on my writing voice. I may, at some point in the future, go back and write out the sound effects in the first five chapters. Maybe not. Tell me your opinions on that and what you think of the writing without effects.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next chapter out in two weeks. I've already started on it, and as time passes, I keep getting a better idea of where I want to go with this story. With any luck, I won't suffer from such massive writer's block again. There are also a couple minor details that I'm thinking about altering in the previous chapters, so I'll let you all know in the next author's note whether I go through with them or not and what they are. See you next time! (BTW, it looks like I can't keep the promise I made months and months ago about shorter author's notes. Whoops!)


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